Search by topic
- archaeology
- architecture
- bricklayer
- Building of Local Interest
- carpenter
- church
- crime
- dressmaker
- fire
- Great Eastern Railway
- listed building
- medieval
- oral history
- Public House
- Rattee & Kett
- Religious House
- Roman
- scholar
- school
- Then and Now
- tudor
- women
- work
- world war one
- world war two
Search by text
Geoffrey de Mandeville 12th centuryBurwell Castle
History of Burwell Castle
Burwell Castle was built in 1143 by Stephen I of England on the site of a former Roman villa.
Burwell Castle date unknown. Louis Cobbett in foreground.
Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, attacked Burwell in 1144 when the castle was still unfinished, but during the operation he was hit by a crossbow bolt; he retired to nearby Mildenhall, where he died from the injury. After Geoffrey’s death the castle was never completed, although a stone gatehouse was completed on the site, suggesting a period of further occupation. The Abbot of Ramsey built a chapel on the site around 1246, and the site was finally abandoned in the 15th century.
Burwell Castle (Antiquity, x 1936)
Site of Burwell Castle (MoC264/54)
Contribute
Do you have any information about the people or places in this article? If so, then please let us know using the Contact page or by emailing capturingcambridge@
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
