Sudeley Castle: A Historic English Castle in Gloucestershire
Visitor Information
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Official Website: sudeleycastle.co.uk
Country: United Kingdom
Civilization: Medieval European
Remains: Military
History
Sudeley Castle is located in Winchcombe, near Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, England. Its origins trace back to a fortified manor house from the 12th century. The current castle began construction in 1443 under Ralph Boteler, Lord High Treasurer of England, who built a double courtyard castle on the earlier site. The outer courtyard served the servants and men-at-arms, while the inner courtyard was reserved for Boteler’s family.
In the late 15th century, the castle came under royal control, passing to King Edward IV and later King Richard III. Richard III enhanced the castle by adding a notable banqueting hall. He also used Sudeley as a military base before the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471, a key conflict in the Wars of the Roses.
During the Tudor period, King Henry VIII visited Sudeley in 1535 with Anne Boleyn. The castle later became the home of his sixth wife, Catherine Parr, who lived there with Thomas Seymour. Catherine Parr died in 1548 and was buried in the castle chapel, making Sudeley the only privately owned castle in England with a queen buried on its grounds.
From the mid-16th century, the castle was owned by the Chandos family. Queen Elizabeth I visited Sudeley three times, including a grand three-day celebration in 1592 hosted by Giles Brydges, 3rd Baron Chandos, to commemorate the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
During the English Civil War in the 17th century, Sudeley served as a royalist military base for King Charles I and Prince Rupert. The castle was besieged and changed hands multiple times. In 1649, Parliament ordered the castle to be slighted, meaning deliberately damaged to prevent further military use. This action dismantled much of the inner courtyard and royal apartments but left much of the outer courtyard intact.
For nearly two centuries, the castle remained largely in ruins until 1837 when the Dent family, wealthy glove manufacturers, purchased it. They began careful restoration, preserving parts of the castle as picturesque ruins. Throughout the 19th century, John and William Dent, followed by John Croucher Dent and his wife Emma Brocklehurst Dent, expanded the castle and its collections. Emma Dent was known for hosting large social events and developing the gardens.
In the 20th century, the castle faced financial challenges due to inheritance taxes. During World War II, it was used to store artworks from the Tate Gallery, and a prisoner of war camp operated nearby. The Dent-Brocklehurst family opened the castle to the public in 1970 and continued restoration efforts. Elizabeth, Lady Ashcombe, is the current owner and custodian. In 2018, the castle exhibitions were redesigned to showcase a millennium of history. The site also hosts weddings and cultural events. In 2019, some valuable items were stolen, and the COVID-19 pandemic caused operational restrictions in 2020 and 2021.
Remains
Sudeley Castle is built primarily of local yellow Cotswold limestone arranged around two enclosed courtyards forming a figure-eight layout. Most surviving wings are two stories high with low hipped slate roofs and crenellated parapets. The core of the existing structure dates to the Tudor period, with significant Victorian restorations and additions by the Dent family in the 19th century.
The inner, or southern, courtyard retains only the western wing, originally service quarters, now housing a café and gift shop. This wing includes a three-story “jail tower” dating from around 1442. Despite its name, the tower was originally a donjon, or inhabited keep, rather than a prison. The ground and first floors of this tower have been restored.
At the northern end of the western wing stands the five-story Portmare Tower, built under Ralph Boteler. It is named after a French admiral whose ransom helped fund the castle’s construction. The tower’s north and west sides are original 15th-century stonework, while the south and east sides were heavily restored in 1857 and 1887. Each floor contains a single room, with the ground floor featuring ambulatories—walkways around the room.
Opposite the western wing lie the ruins of the late 15th-century Banqueting Hall, attributed to Richard III. The hall originally had a ground floor for feasting and an upper great hall reserved for the king and special guests, with adjoining royal bedchambers. The edges of the oriel windows are decorated with motifs resembling the White Rose of York. Today, the hall is partly ruined and converted into a garden with climbing roses and ivy. Conservation work to stabilize the ruin was ongoing as of 2018.
Separating the inner and outer courtyards is an 18-foot-wide corridor built in 1889. This replaced earlier low walls that may have dated to 1614 and were remnants of a former middle wing. At the eastern end of this corridor stands the Garderobe Tower, featuring a projecting oriel window dating to 1572. The tower’s west side is mid-15th century, while the east side is later. The ground floor includes a loggia, an open gallery or corridor.
The outer, or northern, courtyard buildings mostly date from the 15th century but were extensively remodeled during Victorian times. The oldest structure here is the central gatehouse in the northern wing, built around 1442. It was originally accessed by a drawbridge over a moat, which no longer exists.
The eastern wing of the outer courtyard once housed kitchens, stables, and coach houses. Today, it is used by the castle owners, as is the opposite western wing. East of the main castle building lies the chapel dedicated to St Mary. Built around 1460, it is a Grade I listed building featuring 15th- and 16th-century exterior details such as battlements, gargoyles, and crockets on buttresses. The west end has a square bell tower topped with a weather vane. The chapel’s interior is Victorian, with a black-and-white marble floor.
Inside the chapel is the neo-Gothic canopied tomb of Queen Catherine Parr. Designed by George Gilbert Scott and sculpted by John Birnie Philip in 1859, it stands in the chancel on the site of her original burial.
About 150 meters north of the castle is the three-story North Lodge gatehouse, built in 1886 by John Drayton Wyatt for Emma Dent. It features battlements and string courses separating the floors and is Grade II listed. Approximately 680 meters northwest lies the West Gate, also known as Almsbury Lodge, built in 1893 as the western approach to the castle.
Near the castle, about 100 meters northwest of the main building, are the ruins of the tithe barn of Winchcombe Abbey. Originally from the late 15th century and rebuilt in the 18th century, the barn later burned and now stands in ruins. It is Grade I listed. The barn’s long sides had 13 bays with pointed arched openings separated by massive piers. Inside, it was divided into a residential section and a barn section.
Adjacent to the barn’s east side is a nearly 50-meter-long rectangular carp pond stocked with koi fish, created around 1930. Previously, a hedge maze occupied this area during Emma Dent’s time.
The castle gardens cover about 15 acres and are divided into ten distinct areas. The Queen’s Garden is the centerpiece, a Victorian replanting of an original Elizabethan parterre garden discovered on site. It is surrounded by large yew hedges dating from 1860. The Knot Garden contains over 1,200 box hedges arranged in a pattern inspired by the dress worn by Queen Elizabeth I in the painting “An Allegory of the Tudor Succession,” which hangs in the castle.
The White Garden borders St Mary’s Church and includes peonies, clematis, roses, and tulips. It was a place where Catherine Parr and Lady Jane Grey prayed daily.
The estate also manages one of the world’s largest public collections of endangered pheasants. This collection operates in cooperation with the World Pheasant Association and has run a pheasantry for over 30 years as part of a breeding and reintroduction program.
Inside the castle is an extensive art collection, including works acquired from the 1842 Strawberry Hill House Sale of Horace Walpole’s collection, Victorian additions, and the James Morrison collection. Notable pieces include a Tudor succession allegory attributed to Lucas de Heere, a painting by Turner, a Van Dyck portrait of Rubens, Bernardino Luini’s “Flora,” and miniatures of Henry VIII and Catherine Parr.
The textile collection, assembled by Emma Dent in the 19th century and once loaned to the Victoria and Albert Museum, includes Louis XV Aubusson bed hangings, a waistcoat believed to have belonged to Charles I, a 16th-century lace canopy attributed to Anne Boleyn, a fragment of Catherine Parr’s dress, and an early 17th-century Sheldon tapestry featuring biblical and floral motifs.
