Somerton Castle, Lincolnshire

In the civil parish of Boothby Graffoe. In the historic county of Lincolnshire (Modern Authority of Lincolnshire, 1974 county of Lincolnshire).

Antony Bek, Bishop of Durham, received a licence to crenellate in 1281 from Edward I. The castle was built in the most up-to-date style of the time, that of the Welsh castles. It is quadrangular, with circular towers at the angles, curtain walls, and surrounded by a moat. The size was 330 by 180ft. In 1309 Antony Bek gave a gift of Somerton Manor to Edward II, himself having received it from his mother, Eva De Grey, 30 years earlier. Some repairs were carried out in 1323-26, but when the castle was surveyed on the accession of Edward III the buildings were in a poor condition. In 1328 the castle was granted to John De Roos for life for a rent of £10 per annum, but 6 years later the King took it back and granted the constableship of Somerton to John Crabbe, a position he held until his death in 1351-52. King John I of France was confined here after being taken prisoner at Poitiers in 1356. Of the original building only the south east tower with three storeys and a conical roof, and the ground floors of the north east and north west towers. The north west tower was mostly demolished in 1849, but the remains of all four circular towers were described in 1856. In 1601 the castle is recorded as being almost completely ruinous, except for the south eastern tower which stood almost to full height. Attached to the south eastern tower is the south front, extended by a wing built in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century by the Disney family. More curtain wall is thought to survive attached to the south western tower. The L-shaped wing was built in about 1660. The castle seems to have been Crown property until the Victorian period. It is suggested that the moated site to the south of castle was a walled 'grange' mentioned in a survey of 1279, pre-dating the castle, belonging to the De Grey manor. It is also suggested that it was where the Lord's dues were stored, including crops, foodstuffs and livestock. (Lincolshire HER)

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law. This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 192186)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SK95405875

Air Photo from Air Photo and general mapping	1st edition OS Map from Mid to late 19th century maps
Modern Map from Landscape form and features	Modern Map from General location and route planning
Geograph British Isles occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 326074
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 60738 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website.

• Web site links
  • http://www.magicjon.fsnet.co.uk/somerton.htm
    http://www.ecastles.co.uk/somerton.html
    http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_midlands/121/somerton.html
• Books
  • Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern) p60-61
    Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p134, 175
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p144-5
    Roffe, David, 1993, 'Castles' in Bennett, S. and Bennett, N. (eds), An Historical Atlas of Lincolnshire (University of Hull Press) p40-1
    Pevsner, Nikolaus and John Harris; revised by Nicholas Antram, 1989, Buildings of England: Lincolnshire (Harmondsworth) p640
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p262-3
    Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p838-9
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England (New York: Macmillan) Vol1 p440-2 http://www.archive.org/stream/castlesofengland01mack#page/440/mode/1up
    Timbs, J. and Gunn, A., 1872, Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales Vol3 (London) p6-9
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p403
    White, W., 1856, History, Gazetteer and Directory of Lincolnshire p334
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1853, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol2 p238
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1851, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol1 p172-3
    Buck, Samuel and Nathenial, 1774, Buck’s Antiquities (London) Vol1 p175
• Journal Articles
  • Blagg, T.M., 1933, 'Somerton Castle' Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire Vol37 p49-60
    Sutton, 1909, The Archaeological Journal Vol66 p362-5
    Bishop of Nottingham, 1890, 'Somerton Castle: its builder, character, and royal prisoner' Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol46 p1-7 [history] http://www.archive.org/stream/journalofbritish46brit#page/1/mode/1up
    Bishop of Nottingham, 1882, The Archaeological Journal Vol39 p180-3 http://www.archive.org/stream/archaeologicaljo39brit#page/180/mode/1up
    Trollope, 1857, Associated Architectural Societies' reports and papers [Lincoln, York, Northampton, Bedford, Worcester, Leicester and Sheffield] Vol4 p49-64, 83-91
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Calendar of Patent Rolls (1272-81) p440
    Rickard, John, 2002, The Castle Community. The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 (Boydell Press) [lists sources for 1272-1422] p293-5
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/lincseng.html#lincs16]