Knepp Castle

A tall stone wall surrounded by grass with trees in the background.

The fragmentary remains of Knepp Castle as they stand today

The medieval Knepp Castle (sometimes referred to as 'Old Knepp Castle', to distinguish it from the nearby 19th-century mansion) is to the west of the village of West Grinstead, West Sussex, England near the River Adur and the A24 (Grid reference ). The castle was probably founded by the Braose family in the 12th century. King John confiscated the castle along with the Braose lands in 1208. Knepp was used as a hunting lodge, and John visited the castle several times. He ordered its destruction in both 1215 and 1216 during the First Barons' War.

A tall stone wall surrounded by grass with trees in the background. There are two figures in the foreground, one on horseback and the other gesturing towards the ruin, and they are accompanied by a dog.

The castle in the late 18th century, as published in Francis Grose's The antiquities of England and Wales, in a similar condition to today.

Knepp Castle continued to be used into the 14th century and hosted reigning monarchs on several occasions. The castle eventually fell out of use, and by the early 18th century was mostly destroyed. Later that century, stone from the castle was used to build a nearby road. The land around the castle is now the site of Knepp Wildland.

History

The name is thought to come from the Old English word cnæp, referring to the mound on which the castle stands.Template:Sfn

Knepp was a motte castle, probably founded by William de Braose, in the Rape of Bramber. In 1208 King John confiscated a later William de Braose's land, including Knepp.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn While John's motivation is uncertain, he came to view William de Braose as a threat;Template:Sfn in historian Sidney Painter's view the treatment of the Braose family was "the greatest mistake John made during his reign ... it made his cruelty known to all his barons", and contributed to the discontent of the barons who later revolted against John's rule.Template:Sfn

An illuminated picture of King John riding a white horse and accompanied by four hounds. The king is chasing a stag, and several rabbits can be seen at the bottom of the picture.

A 14th-century depiction of King John on a stag hunt. While the manuscript drawing does not depict Knepp, the park at Knepp was used for hunting in John's reign.

The first surviving record of the castle is dated to 1210. Royal records document spending at the castle in the 1210s on general repairs, building a chimney, and repairing a pond or moat.Template:Sfn John was present at Knepp Castle on 6 April 1211, as evidenced by a charter confirmed on that date.Template:Sfn Queen Isabella also stayed at the castle for eleven days in either 1214 or 1215.Template:Sfn

In 1215, John was at war with the barons of England. Shortly after losing control of London, John wrote to Roland Bloett on 18 May instructing him to remove whatever he could carry from Knepp and send it to Bramber Castle, and then "totally destroy" Knepp Castle.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn This was followed by a second order to destroy (slight) the castle, given by John on 13 June 1216; on this occasion he ordered Roland Bloett to "cause the castle of Cnappe [Knepp], without delay, to be burnt and destroyed".Template:Sfn

A ruined tower with two arched openings, one at ground level and one immediately above. The tower is surrounded by a low fence, with trees in the background.

An early 19th-century engraving showing the fence around the castle and the lightning rod.

In addition to John the castle had a succession of royal visitors, including Henry III in 1218, Edward II in 1324 and Richard II in 1384. Simon de Montfort seized Knepp Castle from William de Braose, and later returned it.Template:Sfn Subsequently, it fell into decline and deteriorated.

Later history

A battlemented stone building with two people, a dog, and a car in front.

The 19th-century mansion also known as Knepp Castle.

A skirmish may have taken place near Knepp Castle during the English Civil War, referred to as the 'Battle of Knepp' by Sir Charles Burrell. The event was related by James Charles Michell, a member of the Sussex gentry, in the early 19th century as a piece of oral history handed down from his father. According to Michell a parliamentarian force defeated a royalist force on 19 July 1648. Michell also reported that a cannonball had been found near the castle, but did not state when or give a precise location.Template:Sfn Historian Richard Symonds suggests that the event caused considerable damage to the castle and contributed to its abandonment,Template:Sfn though the Victoria County History of Sussex notes that it is unclear when the castle was destroyed. The bulk of the castle had been pulled down by the 1720s.Template:Sfn

Ownership of the castle was linked to the manor of Knepp. In 1788 the manor was purchased by Sir Charles Raymond, and descended through the Burrell family.Template:Sfn Antiquarian Francis Grose visited the ruins in 1775, and wrote "so completely has been the work of demolition in the instance of this castle, that a reasonable conjecture cannot be hazarded from a view of the ruins themselves, as they then appeared, of its original form and extent". About 55 years later the Rev. Edmund Cartwright observed that the ruins had further deteriorated, with stone from the castle taken to be used in roadmaking.Template:Sfn In the early 19th century the remnants were reinforced and fenced in by Sir Charles Burrell to protect them from further deterioration.

The name 'Knepp Castle' is also applied to the castellated Gothic Revival mansion built nearby in the early 19th century by Sir Charles Merrik Burrell, to the designs of John Nash, and currently the home of Sir Charles Burrell, 10th Baronet.

In 1951, the castle was designated a scheduled monument, a scheme intended to protect nationally important archaeological sites. The protected area covers the whole of the mound and a section of path leading west from the castle. The wall on top of the motte was given additional protection in 1959 when it was designated a Grade II listed building. Damage to the mound was reported to the Worthing Museum in 1962.Template:Sfn

The Society for Medieval Archaeology funded geophysical surveys at the castle in 2021 and 2022, with the aim of finding out more about the layout of the castle and searching for evidence of burning which could relate to King John's orders to burn Knepp. While there was no evidence of burning was found, the surveys did find possible buried archaeology.Template:Sfn

Layout

A line drawing oriented with north at the top. The castle mound is in the centre, with a road running north to south to the east of the castle, and the River Adur running east to west to the south.

A plan of the castle published in the Victoria County History of Sussex in 1905Template:Sfn

The castle stands on an oval mound, modelled from a natural feature, surrounded by a ditch and ramparts. The ditch, fed from a nearby pond, formed a moat which still contained water at the beginning of the 18th century.Template:Sfn

The above-ground remains of the castle consist of a single wall 11 metres high, 9.5 metres long, and 2.5 metres thick, with a doorway and another opening above it. This wall apparently formed the north end of the west wall of a tower or keep.Template:Sfn The wall is faced with Horsham Stone,Template:Sfn a type of sandstone found in the region.

Thirteenth and fourteenth century documents record a chapel, and domestic structures including a hall and stables at the castle.Template:Sfn The arrangement of the buildings and whether they were standalone structures is not recorded in the contemporary documents.Template:Sfn

Knepp Wildland

Two cows standing in a field next to a path.

Longhorn cattle at Knepp Wildland

The land around the castle is now the site of Knepp Wildland, the first large-scale rewilding project in England, created from of former arable and dairy farmland owned by Sir Charles Burrell, 10th Baronet.Template:Sfn

References

Bibliography

• Template:Open access
• Template:Link note

External links

• Knepp Castle Estate
• Bibliography on the Gatehouse Gazetteer
• 3D model on Sketchfab