NANTWICH CASTLE
From the brine pit walk back to the crossroads by the bridge,
cross over and walk alongside the river. The road, Water Lode(lane)
is part of a ring road constructed in the 20th century.
Before reaching the pedestrian crossing lights, stop and
stand with your back to the river. Take in the sweep of the
town. The ground rises. Most of what you see are the backs
of buildings in High Street. In the centre is the NatWest
Bank and to the right, with a road in between, is a chapel-like
building on the knoll. Today this is called Gregory`s, a popular
night club.
On the mound here once stood Nantwich Castle. It was not
one of the giants such as Harlech or Caernarvon, but a small
tower of stone or wood-on-stone-base, surrounded by a ditch
of, maybe, 12 feet in depth.
J.J.Lake in his Great Fire (1985)p.135, says the
castle is poorly documented. Such information as has been
found comes mainly from materials(in Harleian Mss.)kept in
the British Library in London. Other references are in the
Wilbraham Ms. or the Sneyd charters.
Several excavations have been made around the site and these
prove the existence of the ditch.
The castle was built by William Malbank for his brother
Piers about 1160 to 1170. It was a look-out point and a defence
against any Welsh attack from the west. Below the castle was
the area called the bailey(outer wall) in which would be a
number of dwellings. At the river was a ford.
The castle served its purpose until 1282 when the Welsh
were conquered. After that it became a ruin. No doubt the
timber was re-used somewhere else in the town. Among the references,
mentioned above, we may note that the castle was left in 1288
by another William Malbank to his daughter Philippa. She married
and became the Countess of Warwick.
However we do know what happened to the stones of the castle.About
1441 when John de Kyngeslegh died, the people, in giving thanks
for his many good deeds since he came to Nantwich in 1400,
commemorated his life by building a chapel on to the St Mary`s
Church(the south transept). For this purpose permission had
to be obtained from Lord Audley to use stones taken from the
castle ruins.
The last mention of the castle was in 1462; later references
are to the site of the castle. Some descriptions, found in
Nantwich Library or Nantwich Museum, are in James Hall`s History
of Nantwich (1883) or in Nantwich Museum News
(6)May 1986 on the restoration of No.46 High Street.
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