Author: Alf Thompson, The Earl of Northampton’s Regiment

Orders of the day, Volume 31, Issue 3, May/June 1999

Sudeley Castle lies near Cheltenham and the lovely Cotswold town of Winchcombe, an area steeped in history and cloaked in tranquil beauty.

The Manor of Sudeley pre-dates Domesday (1085) when the lands were owned by the Earls of Hereford. Following the Norman Conquest it was passed on to the de Sudeley family, who were to play a prominent part in medieval history. In 1368 John de Sudeley died leaving no issue and the manor and estates passed through his sister to William le Boteler of Wem. Eventually they passed to Ralph le Boteler who served the Lancastrian kings Henry V and Henry VI as Admiral of the Fleet and received a barony for his service in the French Wars. Ralph built Sudeley Castle in 1442 through wealth amassed from the spoils of war, in particular ransom booty. He built a spectacular late medieval castle incorporating a splendid banqueting hall, and within the castle enclosure the church of St Mary. Much original architecture remains, for the most part in ruin but with many aspects incorporated into the 19th century restoration work. Much of this destruction is directly associated with the Civil War years.

Ralph le Boteler was a staunch Lancastrian in the Wars of the Roses and lost his castle and estates as forfeit to the Yorkist King Edward IV. The Manor of Sudeley then went through a period in which it became frequently gifted to court favourites, e.g. to Richard Duke of Gloucester by his brother Edward IV. Richard held it for nine years, when he part-exchanged it for Richmond Castle and estates. The Castle returned to Richard when he became Richard III and was held by him until his death at Bosworth in 1485. Henry VII then inherited crown ownership and gave Sudeley to his uncle Jasper Tudor whom he had created Earl of Pembroke and Duke of Bedford. Jasper Tudor held the Castle until his death in 1495, when it once again became crown property and was so when Henry VIII became King in 1509.

Although Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn were said to have visited the castle, Henry VIII took no real interest in it. The Castle, being mostly uninhabited, went through a period of decline until the young King Edward VI gifted the property to his scheming uncle Thomas Seymour whom he had created Lord High Admiral of England and Lord Sudeley. Thomas was the brother of Henry VIII’s third and favourite wife, Jane Seymour, and brother to Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector to the King. Thomas Seymour has been described as ‘an ambitious and wicked man who was hell-bent on self-ingratiating power seeking’. He was also a risk-taking lover of Queen Katherine Parr, Henry VIII’s last wife. Following Henry’s death he quickly married the thirty-five year old dowager queen and set about restoring Sudeley to its former glory with a redecoration programme synonymous with Tudor splendour.

As wife of Thomas Seymour the dowager queen brought her own wealth and ideas to Sudeley. Lavish developments took place and the gardens became an important feature of the house. Katherine also brought with her a great retinue of servants and established a substantial household; special apartments were constructed for her in one of the wings. Unfortunately she died following childbirth in the first year of her marriage. One of the chief mourners at her funeral was Lady Jane Grey who lived with her at Sudeley and remained there until her own unfortunate marriage and subsequent execution. Thomas Seymour buried his wife with great splendour and the great marble tomb still remains intact in St. Mary’s church. Following her death the ambitious Thomas attempted to obtain greater wealth and power by conspiring against his brother Edward. His intrigues were uncovered and he was tried for treason and executed in 1549. The castle and estates were then inherited by Katherine’s brother, William Parr Marquis of Northampton.

Following the disastrous usurpation of Lady Jane Grey, the crown went to Mary, daughter of Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s first wife. Queen Mary had her own favourites and gave Sudeley to John Brydges (Bridges), creating him Lord Chandos of Sudeley in 1554. In 1558 Elizabeth inherited the throne from her half sister. Elizabeth visited Sudeley three times during her long reign; on the last occasion in 1593 it is recorded that extravagant entertainments were provided and lavish banqueting. Queen Elizabeth died in 1603 and the Tudor dynasty was succeeded by the Stuarts. During a hundred year period the Bridges family held Sudeley, and saw a succession of the Lords Chandos. It is with the sixth Lord Chandos that we take up the story of the Civil War.

George Brydges, sixth Lord Chandos of Sudeley declared for the King in 1642. Gloucestershire was representative of county affiliations nationally in that the more commercial and industrial townships tended to declare for Parliament, whilst the large rural estates owned by the gentry tended to side with the King. Gloucester was a county of strategic importance as it was central to Middle England and guarded the gateway to London and Oxford as well as access to South Wales and the Marches. Economically it was a county of great importance, in particular the Dean area with its timber and iron resources. The city of Gloucester came out for Parliament and was held against siege throughout the Civil War. Cirencester also declared for Parliament, and when Lord Chandos as Lord Lieutenant of the County tried to execute a Commission of Array he was set upon by a mob and forced to withdraw from the town. Cirencester fell to Prince Rupert in 1643, but the Royalists continually failed in their efforts to take the city of Gloucester. The Royalist war effort in Gloucestershire was essentially supported from the Cotswold region of the county with Cotswold gentry providing a recruitment base, financial support and many great houses such as Sudeley becoming garrisons. Lord Chandos established Sudeley as his county headquarters and the great house changed hands three times during the Civil War.

Lord Chandos garrisoned Sudeley and defended it against attack on a number of occasions. Having lost the house, he re-took it - only to lose it again. On this second time a great deal of damage was done by Parliamentarian bombardment. On 27th January 1643, whilst Lord Chandos was fighting in the field with his own cavalry regiment, the house surrendered to Parliament. It is recorded that the Parliamentarian garrison then committed terrible plundering of the house and caused much destruction, while the church was turned into a stable and slaughterhouse. It is also recorded that this was one of the few occasions when zealous Parliamentarians not only defaced and destroyed church furniture and tombs, but dug up bodies from graves.

Having plundered Sudeley, the Parliamentarian garrison left on the approach of the Oxford Army. The King himself stayed at Sudeley along with Prince Rupert whilst campaign plans were deliberated. It is said that while Rupert was awaiting the King’s orders to make a cavalry charge he could not find the King on the battlefield; he then went in search of the King, only to find him back at Sudeley playing a game of piquet. The King and his army moved on, leaving a small garrison. In 1644 parliament arrived for the second time and besieged the house. This time the garrison did not surrender without a fight and more damage was inflicted upon the house - there was severe structural damage as well as the inevitable vandalism; the great tithe barn was destroyed by fire and the octagon tower partially destroyed. The ruined octagon tower still shows holes blasted by the cannonade. How much actual battle damage was done is confused by the deliberate damage that followed: minimal slighting in 1646 and major slighting in 1649.

We know that a Parliamentarian garrison occupied Sudeley from 1644 to the end of the first Civil War and that in 1646 the garrison was reprimanded for abusing the fabric of the house and ordered to stop using wood panelling for firewood.

George Lord Chandos acquitted himself well during the war, remaining loyal to the King throughout and bravely leading his own cavalry regiment in numerous actions. It is recorded that on three occasions during the battle of Newbury his horse was shot from under him and on each occasion he found a remount and continued to charge. At the end of the war his fortunes changed and he defected to Parliament. Having paid a heavy fine he was allowed to return to his violated home. The return was short-lived and his defection proved folly: in 1649, three months after the execution of the King, a Council of State ordered that Sudeley Castle be permanently ‘slighted’ and rendered untenable for military purposes. The main architectural developments of Ralph le Boteler were destroyed and left to ruin, the roof of the main house and church were removed, and the defensive towers were destroyed in full or in part. However the dungeon tower was not so severely damaged and is incorporated into the existing house. The great banqueting hall was destroyed but is still an impressive ruin. The church of St. Mary’s remained roofless until restoration. The present castle, restored in 1837, stands in harmony with the majestic ruins; the romance, intrigue and conflict are captured in a spine-tingling presence throughout the house and gardens.

As for Lord Chandos, his demise echoed the fortunes of the Castle. From being a man of great importance, his life ended in obscurity and dishonour. He killed a man in a duel in 1652 and was imprisoned after being found guilty of manslaughter. He died of smallpox in 1655 and is buried in the family vault in St Mary’s church.

After the death of Lord Chandos his second wife Jane married George Pitt of Stratfield Saye. The house then lay in ruins for almost 200 years; although the estate generated a revenue the house was uninhabitable. In 1810 the Pitt family sold the ruins and sixty acres to the Duke of Buckingham, who used the ruined area for stabling and the land for grazing horses. During this time part of the fabric was turned into a public house. In 1837 two brothers, John and William Dent, bought the house in two separate lots - the estate from the Pitt family and the castle and adjacent land from the Duke of Buckingham. The Dent brothers set about major restoration and reconstruction work. Parts of the original le Boteler buildings were incorporated into the new house and the ruins beyond repair were left as majestic impressions of the past. In 1855 John Coucher Dent married Emma Brocklehurst and the property has remained in Dent-Brocklehurst possession to the present day. The family continued sumptuous and tasteful renovations throughout the 19th century. In 1972 Elizabeth Brocklehurst married Lord Ashcombe and the castle and estate once again returned to the hands of a lord and his lady. The great house left to ruin and decay by Colonel Massey and his Roundhead vandals has risen like a phoenix from the ashes. Today it is one of the most impressive jewels in the Cotswold crown.

• Sudeley Castle, 1990 - Jarrold Publishing
• Gloucester and the Civil War, 1992 - M Atkin and W Laughlin
• Civil War, Interregnum and Restoration in Gloucestershire, 1997 - A R Warmington
• Destruction in the English Civil Wars, 1994 - S Porter
• Publications of the Gloucester Records Society/Office