Wisbech Castle

[3] In the 15th century, repairs were becoming too much for the ageing structure, and a new building was started in 1478 under John Morton, Bishop of Ely (later Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancellor of England).[6] His baggage train is reported to have got into difficulties crossing a river or estuary and the wagons and contents, including the regalia and other treasures, were lost.He had been "thrown in the depth of the gaol of Wysebech among thieves, where by toads and other venomous vermin he was so inhumanely gnawed that his life was despaired of".[10] The castle tower was repaired during 1332–1333 using six fotmel (approximately 420 lb) of lead, and a year later the bakehouse wall was buttressed using 6,000 bricks.[12] In the same year the Bishop's Constable and his men were "besieged" by John de Stonore, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench.[15] "On 23 July 1381 Thomas Arundel, Bishop of Ely, by his letters dated from Wisbech Castle gave directions for the excommunication of those involved in insurrection in Cambridge.[17] Constructions in 1410 included a new pons tractabilis towards the church, a chapel within and a bridge without the castle, and a garden and dove house (destroyed in 1531), all walled around and moated.[21] In 1577 Cecilia Samuel was tried, convicted and hanged at Ely for drowning her newborn son in the ditch called the Castell dike in Wisbech.[8] In October 1580 Roger Goad, Bridgewater and William Fulke engaged in the examination of John Bourne, a glover and some others of the Family of Love who were confined in the castle.[25] During the reign of Elizabeth I while the seat of the bishopric was left vacant, the Queen's halmote court to dealt with cases such as the surrender (transfer) of land at "Stowecroft", "Sybbilsholme", "Harecrofte" by Jacomina Robinson to her son John Crosse in July 1586.[26] Other leading Roman Catholics were imprisoned for political reasons at the time of the Spanish Armada: Robert Catesby and Francis Tresham are reported to have been held at Wisbeach Castle in 1588.The unwilling minority argued, which only confirmed the others in their resolve, and the separation was carried out in February 1595, but came to an end with a general reconciliation in November of that same year.[36] During the English Civil War, after Oliver Cromwell had been appointed governor of the Isle of Ely for his activity in swaying it to the interest of Parliament, he refortified the castle and town[2] with outposts at the Horseshoe Sluice and Leverington.The soldiers stationed to defend the town were commanded by Colonel John Palgrave and Captain William Dodson; and the ammunition, and other warlike stores, were supplied from a Dutch ship, which the Queen had dispatched from Holland for the use of the Royalists, but which had been captured.[37] In 1643 the castle was used to secure the river Nene frontier and to block any attempt by the Newark garrison to relieve the besieged King's Lynn Royalists.[2] Captain Thomas Pigge of Walsoken was taken prisoner by the Earl of Essex in October 1634 and exchanged at Burghley House "on a bond of £2,000 never to bear arms again".[38] Secretary of State John Thurloe, of Lincoln's Inn, Middlesex, purchased the manors of Wisbech Barton, Elm and Todd St. Giles and the "castle estate".[39][40] Jonas Moore's "Mapp of the Great Levell of the Fens" (1658) shows the town with a church and a large building surrounded by a moat, Thurloe's coat of arms is one of those nearby.William Dugdale noted that a lock at the Horseshoe (on the River Nene) erected in an earlier phase of the drainage work, which "cost £7000 at least" had since been "pulled down, as useless, and is disposed of to Mr. Secretary Thurloe, towards his building of that fair new house in Wisbech, which stands where the old Castle was".[49] In 1778/1779, the Italian author and poet Giuseppe Marc'Antonio Baretti (1718–1789) resided with Edward Southwell and his family living at the Castle for about a fortnight.On the death of Edward Southwell, All the elegant and genuine HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE, LINEN, and CHINA, brought from the Castle (his late Dwelling-House) in Wisbech, a sale not being permitted on the Premises.James Yorke, the Bishop of Ely put up the castle for auction in six lots at the Rainbow coffee house, Cornhill, London on 13 November 1793.[55] It was reported "The removal of the ancient building left unseemly hollows, and as the best mode of dealing with them Mr Medworth built arches upon which is laid a terraced garden walk.In one portion of the vaults the end of the basement wall of the garden front of Thurlow's house may be seen cut through, and a well is preserved, the lower part of which is very possibly of some antiquity.The Northern Whig No 28,517 reported on Tuesday 2 January 1900 "Births" - "Bradley December 31, at Wisbech Castle, Cambs, the wife of F.W.Bradley, of a daughter."[78] In 1955 excavations on the site of Messrs. Keightley's new building in the Market Place revealed evidence of a wall and extensive moat, in which were found pottery, leather sole shoes, slim fitting with long pointed toes and an early 15th century gilt spur.wrote an article 'Wisbech castle: Past and Present' published in 1960 [82] in it, he refers to the building's secrets, including a bricked up space between two rooms.[98] In November 2019 an open day was held at The Castle to mark the 10th anniversaries of the 2009 dig and the formation of Fenland Archaeological Society (FenArch).In 1878 when the 35th Congress of the British Archaeological Association took place in Wisbech, it was reported that "the removal of the ancient building left unseemly hollows and as the best method of dealing with them Mr Medworth built arches upon which is laid a terraced garden walk".William Weston in his diaries states that all the Catholic prisoners could observe through the windows of their cells the assemblies of over a thousand people taking part in religious events inside the castle site.