Farleigh Hungerford Castle, sometimes called Farleigh Castle or Farley Castle, is a medieval castle in Farleigh Hungerford, Somerset, England. The castle was built in two phases: the inner court was constructed between 1377 and 1383 by Sir Thomas Hungerford, who made his fortune as steward to John of Gaunt. The castle was built to a quadrangular design, already slightly old-fashioned, on the site of an existing manor house overlooking the River Frome. A deer park was attached to the castle, requiring the destruction of the nearby village. Sir Thomas's son, Sir Walter Hungerford, a knight and leading courtier to Henry V, became rich during the Hundred Years War with France and extended the castle with an additional, outer court, enclosing the parish church in the process. By Walter's death in 1449, the substantial castle was richly appointed, and its chapel decorated with murals.
The castle largely remained in the hands of the Hungerford family over the next two centuries, despite periods during the War of the Roses in which it was held by the Crown following the attainder and execution of members of the family. At the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642, the castle, modernized to the latest Tudor and Stuart fashions, was held by Sir Edward Hungerford. Edward declared his support for Parliament, becoming a leader of the Roundheads in Wiltshire. Farleigh Hungerford was seized by Royalist forces in 1643, but recaptured by Parliament without a fight near the end of the conflict in 1645. As a result, it escaped slighting following the war, unlike many other castles in the south-west of England.
The last member of the Hungerford family to hold the castle, Sir Edward Hungerford, inherited it in 1657, but his gambling and extravagance forced him to sell the property in 1686. By the 18th century, the castle was no longer lived in by its owners and fell into disrepair; in 1730 it was bought by the Houlton family, Trowbridge clothiers, when much of it was broken up for salvage. Antiquarian and tourist interest in the now ruined castle increased through the 18th and 19th centuries. The castle chapel was repaired in 1779 and became a museum of curiosities, complete with the murals rediscovered on its walls in 1844 and a number of rare lead anthropomorphic coffins from the mid-17th century. In 1915 Farleigh Hungerford Castle was sold to the Office of Works and a controversial restoration programme began. It is now owned by English Heritage, who operate it as a tourist attraction, and the castle is a Grade I listed building and a scheduled monument.
History
11th – 14th centuries
After the Norman Conquest of England, the manor of Ferlege in Somerset was granted by William the Conqueror to Roger de Courcelles.Mackenzie, p.57. Ferlege evolved from the Anglo-Saxon name faern-laega, meaning "the ferny pasture", and itself later evolved into Farleigh.Kightly, p.17. William Rufus gave the manor to Hugh de Montfort, who renamed it Farleigh Montfort.Mackenzie, p.57; Kightly, p.17. The manor passed from the Montfort family to Bartholomew de Bunghersh in the early years of the reign of Edward III.
Sir Thomas Hungerford bought the property from the Bunghersh family in 1369 for £733.Dunning, pp.57–8. By 1385 the manor was known as Farley Hungerford, after its new owner. Sir Thomas Hungerford was a knight and courtier, who became rich as the Chief Steward to the powerful John of Gaunt and then the first recorded Speaker of the House of Commons. Thomas decided to make Farleigh Hungerford his principal home and, between 1377 and 1383, built a castle on the site; unfortunately he did not acquire the appropriate licence to crenellate from the king before commencing building, and Thomas had to acquire a royal pardon in 1383.
Thomas's new castle adapted the existing manor complex overlooking the head of the River Frome.Emery, p.553. Although the castle sat on a low spur it was overlooked by higher ground from the west and the north and was not ideally placed from a purely defensive perspective.Miles and Saunders, p.165. Contemporary castle designs included the construction of huge, palatial tower keeps and apartments for the most powerful nobles, such as Kenilworth, expanded by Thomas's patron, John of Gaunt; or the construction of smaller, French influenced castles such as that seen at nearby Nunney Castle, built by one of Thomas's fellow nouveau riche landowners.Emery, p.533. By contrast, Farleigh Hungerford drew on the tradition of quadrangular castles that had begun in France during the early 13th century, in which the traditional buildings of an unfortified manor were enclosed by a four-sided outer wall and protected with corner towers.Gondoin, p.167; Johnson, p.167. The style was well established by the late 14th century, even slightly old fashioned.
The castle was formed around a court, later called the inner court, enclosed by a curtain wall with a circular tower on each corner and a gatehouse at the front; the north-east tower was larger than the others, perhaps to provide additional defences.Kightly, pp.5, 9. Over time the towers acquired their own names: the north-west tower was called the Hazelwell Tower; the north-east the Redcap Tower and the south-west the Lady Tower.Kightly, pp.8–10. The ground fell away sharply on most sides of the castle, but its south and west sides were protected with a wet moat, using a dam fed from a nearby spring using a pipe.Kightly, pp.11, 33. The gatehouse had twin towers and a drawbridge.Kightly, p.7.
Opposite the entrance, and running across the middle of the court, was the great hall of the castle, with a grand porch and steps leading up to the first floor, where prestigious guests would have been entertained amongst carved wall-panels and murals. The design of the hall may have emulated Gaunt's hall at Kenilworth; at the very least, it was a powerful symbol of Thomas's authority and status.Johnson, p.169. The west side of the inner court included the castle kitchen, bakery, well and other service facilities; on the east side was the lord's great chamber and a range of other accommodation for other guests.Kightly, pp.7, 10. Behind the great hall was a smaller courtyard or garden.Kightly, p.33. Thomas appears to have built up his new castle in stages, with the curtain wall being built first, with the corner towers added afterwards.
A park was established next to the castle; a park was highly prestigious and it enabled Thomas to engage in hunting, provided the castle with a supply of venison as well as generating income.Creighton, pp.190–1; Creighton and Higham, p.57. Most of the village of Wittenham had to be destroyed to make way for the park and the site eventually became a deserted village.Bettey, p.59. A new parish church, St Leonard's Chapel, was built by Thomas just outside the castle, after he had demolished the earlier, simpler 12th-century church during the construction of the inner court.Kightly, pp.11, 18; Creighton, p.124; Miles and Saunders, p.167; Wilcox, p.87. Thomas died in 1397 and was buried in the newly built St Anne's Chapel, forming the north transept of St Leonard's Chapel.Kightly, p.13.
15th century
Sir Walter Hungerford inherited Farleigh Hungerford castle upon the death of his mother, Joan, in 1412.Kightly, p.18; Mackenzie, p.58. Walter's first political patron was John of Gaunt's son, Henry IV, and later he became a close companion of Henry's own son, Henry V; Henry V made Walter, like his father before him, the Speaker of the Commons in 1414.Kightly, p.18. Walter prospered: he became known as an expert jouster, in 1415 fought at the battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Years War, was made Steward of the Royal Household and was a major figure in government during the 1420s, serving as the Treasurer of England and as one of the legal guardians of the young Henry VI.Kightly, p.19. Despite having to pay a ransom of £3,000 to the French after his son was captured in 1429, Walter, by now created Baron Hungerford, amassed considerable wealth from his various sources of income, which included the right to one hundred marks (£66) per year from the town of Marlborough, the wool taxes from Wells, and the ransoms gained from the taking of French prisoners.Kightly, p.20; Mackenzie, p.58. As a result, he was able to buy more land, acquiring around 110 new manors and estates over the course of his life.Kightly, p.20.
Between 1430 and 1445 Walter expanded the castle considerably. An outer court was built to the south side of the original castle, with its own towers and an additional gatehouse which formed the new entrance to the castle. These new defences were less strong than those of the original inner court, and indeed the eastern gatehouse was not crenellated at the time.Kightly, p.11; Pounds, p.266. A barbican was built, extending the older gatehouse to the inner court.Kightly, p.5. The new court enclosed the parish church, which became the castle chapel, with a replacement church being built by Walter in the village.Kightly, p.12; Creighton, p.125. Walter had the chapel decorated with a number of murals, depicting scenes from the story of Saint George and the Dragon; Saint George was a favoured saint of Henry V, and associated with the prestigious Order of the Garter, of which Walter was a proud member.Kightly, pp.11, 21. A house was built next to the chapel for the use of the chantry priest.Kightly, p.15. Walter also legally combined the two parishes of Farleigh in Somerset and Wittenham in Wiltshire, which formed part of his castle's park, altering the county boundaries of Somerset and Wiltshire in the process. As a village, Wittenham disappeared completely.Creighton, p.191.
Walter left the castle to his son, Robert Hungerford.Kightly, p.22. Records of the castle at the time show considerable luxuries, including valuable tapestries up to long, silk bedclothes, rich furs and silver bowls and utensils.Kightly, p.6. Unfortunately, Robert's eldest son, the later Lord Moleyns, was captured by the French at the battle of Castillon, which was fought at the end of the Hundred Years War in 1453. The huge ransom of over £10,000 required to ensure his release financially crippled the family, and Lord Moleyns did not return to England until 1459. By this time England had entered the period of civil conflict between the Houses of York and Lancaster known as the Wars of the Roses. Moleyns was a Lancastrian supporter and fought against the Yorkists in 1460 and 1461, leading to first his exile and then his attainder, under which Farleigh Hungerford Castle was seized by the Crown. Moleyns was captured and executed in 1464, and his eldest son, Thomas, met the same fate in 1469.
The Yorkist Edward IV gave Farleigh Hungerford Castle to his brother Richard, then Duke of Gloucester, in 1462. Edward and Richard's brother George Plantagenet may have taken up residence at the castle; his daughter Margaret was certainly born there.Murphy, p.5; Kightly, p.22. Richard became king in 1483 and gave the castle to John Howard, the Duke of Norfolk. Meanwhile, the late Robert's youngest son, Sir Walter, had become a close supporter of Edward IV; nonetheless, he joined the failed revolt of 1483 against Richard and ended up detained in the Tower of London.Kightly, p.22-3. When Henry Tudor invaded England in 1485, Walter escaped custody and joined the invading Lancastrian army, fighting alongside Henry at the Battle of Bosworth.Kightly, p.23. Victorious, the newly crowned Henry VII returned Farleigh Hungerford to Walter in 1486.
16th century