Hartlebury Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Hertlebury

In the civil parish of Hartlebury. In the historic county of Worcestershire (Modern Authority of Worcestershire, 1974 county of Hereford and Worcester).

Castle or moated fortification constructed about 1255 and used as a Bishop's palace. Most of the present building is mainly C15 in date, with late C17 and mid to late C18 extensions and 1960s remodelling. Most of the castle's moat has been mutilated by landscaping, only the West arm survives intact. In 1268 Bishop Giffard, loyal to the Plantagenet dynasty, obtained a licence to crenellate [which is not entered in the rolls].

A possible Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1268.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SO83607124

Modern Map from Good for landscape form and features	Modern Map from Good for general location
Air Photo from	1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape Defra ELS number; 116489

• Web site links
  • http://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/home/cs-museum/cs-museum-hartlebury-castle-keydates.htm
    http://www.ecastles.co.uk/hartlebury.html
• Books
  • Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses Vol2 (Cambridge) p392
    Salter, Mike, 2000, The Castles of Herefordshire and Worcestershire (Malvern) p80-1
    Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p68, 187
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p279
    Salter, Mike, 1993, Midlands Castles (Birmingham) p48
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p507
    Pevsner, N., 1968, The Buildings of England: Worcestershire (London, Penguin) p190-1
    Oman, Charles W.C., 1926, Castles (1978 edn Beetham House: New York) p71
    Montgomerie, 1924, in Page, Wm and Willis-Bund, J.W. (eds), VCH, Worcester Vol4 p431-3
    Page, Wm and Willis-Bund, J.W. (eds), 1913, VCH, Worcester Vol3 p381-4
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol1 p383-4
    Buck, Samuel and Nathenial, 1774, Buck’s Antiquities (London) Vol2 p318
• Journal Articles
  • 1995, Archaeological Journal Vol152 supp37-9
    1971 Sept 16 and 23, Country Life
    Hussey, 1931 Feb 7, Country Life Vol69 p156-62
    1926, Archaeological Journal Vol83 p297
    Bishop Yeatman-Biggs, 1907-10, Worcestershire Naturalists Club Vol4 p262-9
• Guidebooks
  • Anon, 1984, Hereford and Worcester County Museum, Hartlebury Castle (English Life Publications)
    Pearce, E.H., 1926, Hartlebury Castle, with some notes on Bishops who lived in it and on others who lived elsewhere, (London: SPCK)
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Liber Albus of the Bishops of Worcester, f. 456
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/warkseng.html#worcs4]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p511, 517, 518
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol2 p89