Braybrooke Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Braybrok; Braibrok

In the civil parish of Braybrooke. In the historic county of Northamptonshire (Modern Authority of Northamptonshire, 1974 county of Northamptonshire).

The earthwork and buried remains of a medieval moated manor known as Braybrooke Castle and its associated enclosures and water control features. In 1304 Thomas de Latimer was granted a licence to strengthen his manor house at Braybrooke and documentary sources indicate that the moated house was constructed at this time. Described as a castle in 1361. The manor passed to the Griffin family in the early C15, but by the mid-C16 the buildings were in a poor condition. They were finally pulled down in 1633. The earthwork and buried remains of the moated site, which measures 80m square, lie within a larger rectangular enclosure which is bounded by a ditch to the east, by a ditch and bank to the south and a pond to the west and north. These enclosure ditches form part of a water managment system associated with the moated manor and include ponds, fish breeding tanks and further water channels. To the north of the moated site is a large rectangular pond. At its eastern end is a smaller pond which is joined to the former by two channels which in turn form two sides of a small raised island. To the west of the moaed site are a series of inter-connencting fishponds that take the form of rectangular mounds surrounded by ditches. Three have shallow depressions or ponds within them which have been interpreted as fish-breeding tanks where small fish were kept until they were large enough to be transferred into the main pond. A further dry, rectangular pond is visible to the south. The area to the east of the moated site is divided into a number of small enclosures or paddocks. To the south east of the moated manor site are the remains of a further moated site. (Derived from PastScape)
Braybrooke Castle, centred SP 768845. First mentioned in the mid C12. c.1200 documents mention fishponds already in use. The acquisition of timber for building work is recorded in 1213, and a garden in 1292. In 1303-4 license was granted for the strengthening of the manor with a stone wall. In 1329-30 there is mention of a waterfilled moat. The castle buildings were used as a farmhouse from 1549-50 until demolition prior to 1633. A mid-C17 farmhouse stood on the site until 1960 (photographs in NMR). RCHM plan of earthworks. The rectangular, flat-topped mounds W of the castle with central depressions up to 2.5 m. deep may be fish breeding tanks. (RCHME from PastScape)

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SP76868447

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 343946
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record. In particular '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, or elsewhere.

• Web site links
  • http://www.ecastles.co.uk/braybrooke.html
    http://www.braybrook.org/genie.htm
• Books
  • Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern) p73
    Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses Vol2 (Cambridge) p183
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p169 [slight]
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p315
    RCHME, 1979, An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the County of Northampton Vol2, Central Northamptonshire (HMSO) p11-13
    Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1961, Buildings of England: Northamptonshire (Penguin) p114
    Paley Baildon, W., 1923, Braybrooke, its Castle, Manor and Lords (Privately printed) esp p94-100
    Downman, E.A., 1906, in Serjeantson, R.M., Ryland, W. and Adkins, D. (eds), VCH Northampton Vol2 p414-5
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p404
    Rachel Shaw, Braybrooke Castle and fishponds: teachers' guide (Northamptonshire Heritage)
• Journal Articles
  • 1971, Northamptonshire past and present p306
• 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 (1301-7) p209
    Rickard, John, 2002, The Castle Community. The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 (Boydell Press) [lists sources for 1272-1422] p336
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/huntseng.html#norts15]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p328, 428