Hadleigh Castle
| The history of Hadleigh Castle starts early in the 13th century. The country was ruled by King John (1199 – 1216). His second in command or Justicar was a man called Hubert de Burgh. Hubert, who was also the Earl of Kent, would be in charge whenever King John was out of the country. When John died he left Henry III (1216 – 1272) as his successor. However, Henry was only 9 years old at the time, so Hubert governed until Henry was old enough to take the throne. During this time, there was a lot of unrest amongst the noblemen of Britain. 100 years before, a previous King, Henry II (1154 – 1189) had owned more of France than the French king. King John had lost a lot of this land, and some of the noblemen wanted to fight the French to get it back. Other noblemen were loyal to the king, who wanted to keep the peace with France. Hubert advised the King that it would not be a good idea to try to get the land back. The King and Hubert were also fearful of an attack from France. |  |
It was decided to build a castle that would help guard against the risk of a French attack. The castle would need to have a good view out over the Thames to keep a watch for French ships, so it would have to be on a hill. It would have to be near water so that ships full of soldiers could sail off to defend an attack. It also needed to be easily defended, so steep slopes around it and limited access would be handy. Hubert owned lands around Hadleigh, and here there was a fine site for a castle: it has a fine view out over the Thames estuary; it is protected on two sides by steep slopes and on a third by water; and there were only two approaches – what is now Castle Lane and via the river. At the time the castle was built, the sea came right up to the base of the downs.
Around 1230 a licence was granted by Henry III to Hubert to build a castle at Hadleigh. At the time, all castle construction had to be approved by the king – he couldn’t have his enemies building them! Around 1232 the castle was completed. It had an octagonal bailey, surrounded by buttressed curtain walls set with small towers. Inside was a 1.75 acre enclosure with a free-standing wooden hall. The walls were built of Kentish Ragstone, Reigate stone and flint, and ditches were dug on the north, east and west sides to protect the walls.
Around 1239 some of the noblemen who wanted to fight with the French managed to persuade Henry that Hubert had deceived and cheated him. Henry, who was about 32 at this time, sent soldiers to arrest Hubert. They found him in Brentwood. Stories differ as to whether Hubert was at an inn or in a safe house. He was apparently in such a hurry to leave that he ran out without any clothes on. He ran and hid in the Pilgrim’s Chapel.
In those days, if you hid in a chapel or church you were allowed certain rights: you could stay for 40 days, during which you could not be harmed, you could have food and water delivered, and if you chose to surrender you had the choice of standing trial or leaving the country. However, the soldiers sent to arrest Hubert broke these rules, and went into the chapel and dragged Hubert from the altar where he had been praying. The soldiers sent for a blacksmith to put Hubert in chains, but the blacksmith refused because he thought Hubert had served his country well. So the soldiers tied Hubert up, threw him on a horse and took him to the Tower of London. When the Bishop of London heard what had happened, he was very angry and went to see Henry, and demanded that Hubert be taken back to his place of sanctuary.
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So Hubert was returned to the Pilgrims Chapel. However, Henry was determined to succeed, so he had the chapel surrounded by soldiers so that Hubert couldn’t escape. A strict watch was set and a trench was dug around the chapel to stop Hubert tunnelling out. Eventually, they also stopped his supply of food and water and so Hubert was forced to surrender. He was taken to London and thrown into prison. After about 8 months, Henry had a change of heart and released Hubert with a full pardon and gave him back his lands and Hadleigh Castle which had been confiscated. Hubert spent the rest of his life happily retired and died in 1243. |
After Hubert’s death, the danger of attack from France decreased, and so the need for coastal defences was less and the castle fell into disrepair. Records show that during the 13th century, the western wall had to be rebuilt several times because of landslips. 1256 – “Houses unroofed and walls falling down”, 1274 – “Badly built and decayed”. One king, Edward I, only spent £41 on the castle during a reign of 35 years!
When Edward III (1327 – 1377) became King, he looked at the affairs of the Castle. Edward was at war with France for most of his reign, so again Hadleigh Castle was an important site. Between 1327 and 1350, extensive rebuilding of the Castle occurred. Two new towers, at the north-east and south-east corners were added, the entrance was moved to the north side with a pit, swing bridge and portcullis, and the internal buildings were rearranged. It was mainly used as a garrison for soldiers; after 1360, the French became much stronger and started raiding the south coast of England, so defences were important. The rebuilding cost more than £2000, which was a huge sum in those days. Materials for the renovation came from several places: stone and sand from Kent; chalk and plaster from London; wood and tiles from Thundersley, Bicknacre and Little Baddow; boards from East Hanningfield and Maldon; straw from Benfleet; glass from Rayleigh.
Edward III died in 1377 and after this, little was done to preserve the castle. As weapons improved and gunpowder became more common, the value and importance of castles decreased, so rich people tended to spend money on mansions and luxuries.
During Richard II’s reign (1377 – 1399), there were soldiers again in the castle guarding against the Essex villains who took part in the Peasants’ Revolt. During this time, the embalmed body of the Duke of Gloucester was kept at the castle for one night after his murder by Richard’s (his nephew) soldiers.
The Peasants’ Revolt (1381).
A new tax was introduced in 1379 to pay for a new attack against France. The war had been going on for 40 years. At first, the English had been very successful, winning some important victories such as at Crecy in 1346 and at Poitiers in 1356. Then came a great French leader, Bertrand de Guesclin, who inspired the French troops to fight back. Richard needed money to fight back, so introduced a tax. Everyone over 15 years old had to pay, with the rich paying more than the poor. In 1381, however, the tax was changed and the amount of tax the rich had to pay was decreased, whilst the tax on the poor stayed the same. This led to serious social upheaval, and the peasants revolted. They were led by Wat Tyler, a Kentishman. The peasants burnt down many homes of the rich, and the royal troops had to be sent to quell the protest. There was a big battle between the two sides at Billericay on June 28th 1381 and the peasants were badly defeated. A lot of the peasant leaders at this battle were from the Rayleigh/ Benfleet/ Hadleigh areas.
After Richard’s death, custodianship of the castle passed amongst many people, mostly kings, queens or relations of kings. The King would either own the castle himself or would grant it to a relation or nobleman for their lifetime. Upon their death, ownership would revert to the King. Among these grantees were: Aubrey de Vere, Earl of Oxford; Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester; Richard, Duke of York; Edmund of Hadham. There was also a custom of granting the castle to queens: Henry VIII gave the castle to three of his wives, the last, Catherine Parr, outliving him. There is no evidence to suggest that they either lived in, or visited, the castle.
In all, the castle was occupied for over 300 years (approx. 1230 – 1551)
By 1551, the castle was probably in a state of decay. The steep slopes which had defended the castle also became its downfall. The slopes were unstable, and the castle was damaged by landslipping. It was sold for £700 to Lord Richard Riche of Leez Priory. He made the castle pay by selling its stone as building material. After his death in 1566, the castle passed to his descendants and was eventually sold out of the family. By 1600, the castle was a ruin.
During the 19th century, secret chambers in the ruins of the castle were supposed to have been used by smugglers to hide their ill-gotten gains. They would have got to the castle mostly from the river. They burned coloured lights and made strange noises to frighten away nosy locals. Dick Turpin was also reputed to have used the ruins with his gang of highwaymen.
It was also during this time that the castle got a reputation for being haunted by a woman in white. A milkmaid called Sally, from Castle Farm, saw the ghostly woman early one morning. The ghost commanded Sally to meet her again at the castle at midnight. But the girl was too frightened to go. She was met the next morning by the ghostly woman, who was so annoyed that she had been disobeyed that she hit the milkmaid around the head, almost dislocating her neck. After this, the girl was known as ‘wry-neck Sal’
In 1814, Constable, the famous painter, made a sketch of the castle. He said that “At Hadleigh there is the ruin of a castle, which, from its situation, is vastly fine. It commands a view of the Kent hills, the Nore, and the North Foreland, looking many miles to sea.” The sketch was used in his 1829 painting called “Hadleigh Castle; The mouth of the Thames – Morning after a stormy night”. The original is held at Yale University.
In 1863, the first archaeological dig was carried out.