Bletsoe Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Bletnesho

In the civil parish of Bletsoe. In the historic county of Bedfordshire (Modern Authority of Bedfordshire, 1974 county of Bedfordshire).

Elizabethan house on site of of a castle licensed in 1327 to John Pateshull. The earthwork remains associated with the medieval site survive. Called a very handsome moated manor house by Leland.

This site has been described as a;
Masonry Castle
Fortified Manor House.

The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.

Cropmarks/slight earthworks remains.

listed building

Images of England

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TL024584

PastScape Defra ELS number; 360396

Books

Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of The Thames Valley and The Chilterns (Malvern) p13
Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses Vol2 (Cambridge) p327
Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p4 [slight]
King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p5
Wadmore, Beauchamp, 1920, The Earthworks of Bedfordshire (Bedford) p153-5
Page, Wm (ed), 1912, 'Parishes: Bletsoe', VCH Bedford: Vol3 p40-3 [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=42378]
Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
Doubleday, H.Arthur and Page, Wm (eds), 1904, VCH Bedford Vol1 p301-2
Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England Vol1 p138
Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p408

Journal Articles

Baker, D., 1982, 'Mottes, Moats and ringworks in Bedfordshire: Beauchamp Wadmore revisited' Château Gaillard Vol9-10 p35-54 [plan]

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 (1327-30) p130

Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)

William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/buckseng.html#beds2]
Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p20

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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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Bletsoe Castle

Elizabethan house on site of of a castle licensed in 1327 to John Pateshull. The earthwork remains associated with the medieval site survive. Called a very handsome moated manor house by Leland.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TL024584

Sources of information, references and further reading