Stokesay Castle, near Craven Arms in Shropshire, is a
remarkable survival from the 13th century. It was built by Lawrence
of Ludlow, a wealthy wool merchant, who bought the manor of Craven Arms in 1281
and wanted to combine safety with luxury in what was still a moderately
dangerous part of the world, being near the Welsh border.
The result was a fortified manor house, built partly of
stone and partly of timber. It contains spacious accommodation with high roofs
and shuttered windows, in which Lawrence and his family could live in comfort,
but there is also a self-contained stone tower with a stairway that could be
blocked off if necessary should danger threaten and the rest of the property be
burned to the ground by marauding Welshmen.
The castle was completed by 1291, with the same team of
carpenters being used throughout. Subsequent owners have made very few changes,
and it even survived the ravages of both the Civil War (the inhabitants simply
surrendered rather than putting up a fight) and the Victorians, who were
notorious for wanting to “improve” old buildings.
There is every possibility that there were other “Stokesays”
in the region that were not so lucky, so Stokesay Castle could be an example of
a typical mode of living at the time.
As it is, the visitor can admire the open-hearthed great
hall, with its cruck-framed roof, the “solar” accommodation (which is the only
“modern” part of the castle, having been remodelled in the 1640s), and the
splendid timber-framed gatehouse with its carvings of Adam and Eve.
Stokesay Castle is now in the hands of English Heritage who
make it open to the public from April to October.
© John Welford
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