Author
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Topic: Salding Castle, England
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freemasa Member
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posted 06-14-2000 07:44 AM
Does anybody know anything about Spalding Castle? Spalding is a small market town in Lincolnshire (County)near the east coast of England. I know the castle existed at the time of the Norman conquest in 1066 but information is limited. There are no visible signs of the castle now but I believe the foundations are still there. [This message has been edited by freemasa (edited 06-14-2000).] |
Philip Davis unregistered
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posted 06-14-2000 10:58 AM
I've no reference at all to a castle at Spalding. There is a castle at Moulton a couple of mile East of Spalding known as King's Hall Park. This seems to be a minor Norman earthwork castle but I've no details of it at all. It is listed in The Norman Castles of Britain by D. F. Renn. The lack of details suggests to me that no history is know for this site (not unusual in non royal sites).It is a matter of some debate if any castles existed at the time of the Norman conquest and those few that are considered to have do not include Spalding. However in the twenty years between the invasion and the writting of the Domesday Book many castles where built but Renn seems to suggest that in Lincolnshire only Lincoln dates from this period. However, records for this period are incomplete and much research still needs to be done. I note that a Spalding Web site mentions a castle (see http://www.spalding.org.uk/history.html but I don't know if this is based on archeological evidence, historical records or folklore (none of which would prove or disprove the existance of a castle). For serious information you may need to contact the Lincolnshire Sites and Monuments Record Officer at Lincolnshire County Council, Archaeology Section, Highways and Planning Directorate, 4th Floor, City Hall, Beaumont Fee, Lincoln LN1 1DN ------------------ And as I rode by Dalton-Hall Beneath the turrets high, A maiden on the castle-wall Was singing merrily: The Outlaw by Sir Walter Scott http://www.castlesontheweb.com/members/philipdavis/index.html |
Walchelin Member
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posted 06-23-2000 09:49 PM
I believe the Norman castle at Spalding was built by Ivo de Taillebois. Ivo was nephew to William the Conqueror and some say also his standard bearer at the Battle of Hastings. He is best known for his blundering attempts against Hereward the Wake in the rebellion of 1070-71. Here is one version of Ivo's role: http://128.151.244.128/camelot/teams/hereward.htm (scroll down to XXVII). Also see: "The Domesday Book: England's Heritage, Then and Now," Thomas Hinde, ed."Hereward" by Victor Head Sadly, nothing of the castle survives. [This message has been edited by Walchelin (edited 06-23-2000).] |
Philip Davis unregistered
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posted 06-24-2000 01:26 AM
Thank you Walchelin for your post. Could you let me know where you got this information so that I might add Spalding to my list of castles.------------------ And as I rode by Dalton-Hall Beneath the turrets high, A maiden on the castle-wall Was singing merrily: The Outlaw by Sir Walter Scott http://www.castlesontheweb.com/members/philipdavis/index.html |
Walchelin Member
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posted 06-24-2000 11:05 AM
Philip, I haven't had much time to look, but what info I found came from the two books listed above.Hinde's book on Domesday includes a fairly detailed account of the history of Spalding after the Conquest. Unfortunately, it gives no specific details on the castle, remarking only that "All traces of Ivo's great castle have disappeared." I just checked Plantagenet Somerset Fry's "Castles of Britain and Ireland" and Spalding isn't listed there either, nor is the earthwork at Moulton, for that matter. Ah, well...(-: | |