Guildford Castle & History

Hey Guys! Where is the Castle?

If you don't already know the best way to find the Castle from the station: go out of the main entrance and turn right, cross over walnut tree close it's on your left, after crossing turn right, and then  left down bridge street.

Cross over towards the Friary Centre and skirt around to the right. Cross over at the bottom of North Street and on through Friary Street. (Pedestrian only?) At the end:

Turn left up the cobbled High Street, 3/4 the way up you'll see Tunsgate.

Opposite the old town hall/court house, it's where the town clock is.

Turn right through Tunsgate where you will find the castle entrance at the end of the street.

The Keep is just across the road to the right.

Go and have a look when you're next in town, have a peek at the gardens and the bandstand while you're there.

It's a great place to have a rest from all that shopping. "It's Beautiful and Peace-full" and great for a picnic :-)

Guildford Castle ITV Meridian 10/8/99

Some of the Castles History
The Battle of Hastings in 1066 (And we all know that!) was fought at a place near Hastings called "Battle" By  William the "Conqueror".

After the Battle, William's troops pushed onto Canterbury, sacking the towns down along the Pilgrims Way, this included our lovely Guildford. Some time after all this he constructed a Mott and bailey in Guildford.

Hey, I'm glad he did, it's a lovely place, with lovely gardens, and loads of interesting history.
So go and see our enchanted Castle, as most of us Guildford people do from time to time.
Join the crowd that knows a good thing when they see it.

"The Dogie Danes"
The Danes continued to be a threat during this period, attacking the east coast in many towns and villages. They also pillaged and raped dozens of towns and villages far away from the coast, threatening just about everyone and everything in their path. Not very nice people back in the day.

I'm assuming Guildford's Castle was used as a stronghold, enabling troops and men to be directed to many of the threatened towns and villages. This is what I'm told, if you know better, please let me know :-)

The First Part of a Castle be Constructed
Would certainly be the Mott. (a small hill, a mound / high ground)

What they'd do is, they'd dig a ditch, pile the earth up on the inside to construct a Mott, and then they'd construct a Bailey which would in turn be made safe with a Palisade, constructed from wood in the early days.

So Exactly What is a Bailie?
A Bailie is an enclosed courtyard, usually surrounded by a wooden fencing, and were called palisades, and would be overlooked by the Mott.

The Bailie
Most usually used as the living area for servants who serviced the lord and or the farmers etc. There would also be a miller a blacksmith, and most of the important craftsmen of the time.

The Boundary for Our Bailey
would have cut along by Castle Street and South Hill, It is now called Racks Close.

A tall gate house constructed from wood would be used as a watchtower for protection of the troops stationed there.

In the early 1100s
a chalk wall was constructed, surrounding the Mott as an extra protection.

Then some time later in1130 the Keep  was completed. constructed from chalk quarried from Godalming.

(A tower stronghold containing an Amery and stocks of vital day to day stuff, in case Mr Knob from Nob Hill tried anything on...)

Guildfords Keep
consisted of a floor at ground level plus a first floor with an entrance at this level, probably as an aid to defense. The most likely use of the first floor was probably as the Kings lodgings.

At the first floor
there was the large main chamber, consisting of a place of worship, with a wardrobe plus a latrine.
Another floor was constructed some time shortly after this and it contained a... "dual-seater latrine"!
Wow! I bet they sat there "kicking up a stink" arguing, reading up their important papers and swapping "good ideas..."

During the Twelfth Century
the important Bailie buildings would have been completed, including the Kings and the Queens residents, plus two chapels and the Hall. They had it all. The rest of the town would be living in what amounted to "Mud Huts"

The roof
was constructed of lead, the inside walls were finished in plaster and then covered in whitewash. Pretty posh for then I'd say.

The Sheriffs headquarters resided in the Tower
Surrey county jail, including Sussex jail was moved during the twelfth century to the tower,
well if you can keep them out you can keep them in. Then it became the sheriff's headquarters. The Kings apartments were then moved to the Bailey, being a more suitable position.

The great hall and Quarry Street Gate,
is believed to have been situated inside under the chalk arch at the spot where the these two houses behind the the museum in quarry street reside.

(See the print here on the right )

at the bottom of Castle Hill now, stand and the hall was constructed in stone.

Henry the Third
completed many quality upgrades during the thirteenth century, and was now rightly given status as a Palace.

At the same time the Queen's lodgings,
were revamped including bigger windows plus two beautiful marble columns.

The great hall,
decorated with works of art, stained glass windows and probably fine tapestry's. Imagine it, Warm dappled light from the windows, soft bright tones inflected on the floor.

The smell of  Apple log fires, crackling, and may be something like Incense, Wafting all around the place...
Yep that sounds good to me.

Honestly, it was news to me, that we had an "Opulent Palace" rite here in town. I can't believe how much I don't know about our lovely town... Any how, on ward and up ward.

King Henry's,
apartment was finished with silver and gold stars on a green background, can you imagine that? The Kings room Probably had large coloured windows too. Warm dappled light, silver and gold stars on a green background...
Sounds a bit psychedelic to me.

I wondered, did they have a drugs problem back in the day? I reckon he must have been suffering from a dose of ergot trip when he decided the colour scheme...

Ergot comes from the mould that grows on bread, and apparently gives a similar effect as LSD. That probably accounts for all the mad profits of the day then.

The King placed many magnificent columns of marble, surrounding a beautiful garden.
Sounds pretty good to me. I'll have some of that!

There Was a Nasty fire,
that gutted the hall in twelve fifty four. Not so good, but the upgrading and building works were taking place at a pace.

Henry bought more land,
in twelve fifty four and enlarged the Bailey enabling him to construct a sweet of rooms for his son Edward The work was finished in around twelve forty six.

The Quarry Street  Gate,
was finished by twelve fifty six. Suggesting Henry made some changes to the castle.

It seems there is no trace of the original gate, as no remains have been found.
(Tho rumor has it situated behind Tunsgate in it's original position nearer the castle, though the facts are a bit sketchy and hard to come by.)

Our little gem
Though now a residence was still important in the the protection of the realm, and still a place used for gathering troops in support of Edward and his foreign wars.

Although Guildford Castle was never under any kind of attack, it was still very much a stronghold.

"Rebellion of the Barons"
Guildford was allied to the barons rebelling against King John's rule.You know, Robin Hood and all that. Though during the Simon de Montfort rebellion, Guildford saw no action.
They seem to had a pretty good old time of it at the Castle. Sound like a job for me :-)

Henry III's son
Edwards troops did capture the rebel named Adam Gurdon in a skirmish at Alton though. There you go, they did do some important work after all.

Gurdon was taken to Guildford Castle... (Jaws Music) I wander what happened to him then?
I don't think it could have been very good. Nasty dark damp cell, bread and water only, and a damned good spanking to go with it. Hum, not a spot for me.


Castles like Guildford situated Inland
were of no great importance by the fourteenth century, and the resulted was it fell into disrepair. Just about all of the Castle had crumbled by thirteen seventy nine with the exception of the "King's great chamber".

It was still in a sorry state until our local council got around to fixing it up. Well, they've made a good job of it, so all is forgiven :-)

Guildford's Great Tower
In twelve forty seven the sheriff's building was placed by the tower, and was probably constructed from timber. The tower continued to be the county jail for Surrey and Sussex though:

In the Sixteenth Century,
the tower jail was relocated to Southwark. At this point John Daborne became keeper of the gardens, in fifteen forty four he became Mayor of Guildford and in fifteen twenty three,
and again in fifteen twenty eight.

Who was he paying? Or was he a good chap? I don't know.

The Daborne family was part of the Castles history up until the sixteenth century, and it's thought that the brick windows and fireplaces were part of their contribution .

In sixteen eleven,
the estate was given to Francis Carter by James the first. Wish I knew the King. I doubt
Queen Liz would give an estate away, not even too some well connected and appreciated bod.

All they do these days is, rest that sward on each shoulder and say,: Arise Sir Pat.
Lol! Still, they don't chop heads off any more.

Sixteen thirty
The roof of the tower was removed in sixteen thirty.
Some parts of the castle grounds were used for farming and leased out to local bods.

Lord Grantley of Wonersh
owner of the larger portion of Guildford Castle soled his share to the Guildford Corporation in eighteen eighty five.

The walls and the tower were renovated in 1888 and given over to public use as.

In Two Thousand and Three / Four
the keep was renovated revealing crenellations and other important original features.
A new roof plus the first floor were re-built. The rest of the Castle was completed in twenty eleven. Nice job Guildford!

Now Open From April to September Every Year
So we can again visit the tower and view some pretty interesting exhibits re the history of the Castle plus some of the walls and rooms up close and personal, all for a small fee.

At the top of the tower
Reaching the top of the tower is a via an original stone spiral staircase, you will see some lovely views over the grounds and some parts of Guildford.

The old chalk gatehouse (A Norman Arch)
is a part of Guildford's Museum, housing interesting Archeology and local history including a truly outstanding collection of needlework.

That concludes today's little chat on history :-)

Now for a little light entertainment. Some very old Modern magic. Mr Oon Visits Tunsgate. (Feng Sui Video)



Well Mr Oon, there's a lot in Feng Shui. Natural balance is always going to be important...
Nice Video. The view in the video above is the back side of the picture below. ( Tunsgate )
In The High Street.

Tunsgate
was "moved from it's original site. I believe",  and now resides 3/4 the way up the lower high street too the right.

Help
Dose anyone have any extra info on this?

Hey, but wait, while we're in Tonsgate, Visit Ben's Collectors Records

Give Ben A call, you'd be surprised at what he's got there. 
+ (44) 1483-301165



Nice one Ben.

Is there anything else we could use the Castle grounds for? What can we do for Guildfords
"Big Society?"

Catch Yer Later :-)

Guildford Castle from the main line Station - Google Map

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