Sudeley Castle is a Grade I listed castle in the parish of Sudeley, in the Cotswolds, near to the medieval market town of Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, England. The castle has 10 notable gardens covering some within a estate in the Cotswold hills.

Building of the castle began in 1443 for Ralph Boteler; the Lord High Treasurer of England, on the site of a previous 12th-century fortified manor house. It was later seized by the crown and became the property of King Edward IV and King Richard III, who built its famous banqueting hall.

King Henry VIII and his then wife Anne Boleyn visited the castle in 1535; and it later became the home and final resting place of his sixth wife, Catherine Parr who remarried after the king's death. Parr is buried in the castle's church, making Sudeley the only privately owned castle in the world to have a Queen of England buried in its grounds. and the castle was visited on three occasions by Queen Elizabeth I, who held a three-day party there to celebrate the defeat of the Spanish Armada.

However, after the sacking of Worcester in 1139 by the forces of the Empress Matilda, under her brother Robert of Gloucester, Waleran de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Worcester retaliated, attacking and capturing both Sudeley and Tewkesbury.

A few decades after the Anarchy, the Sudeley family were to step once more onto the world stage with John's younger son, William de Tracy, participating in the murder of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. William was subsequently excommunicated by Pope Alexander III. He went on pilgrimage to Rome in 1171 and gained an audience with the pope, who exiled him and his fellow conspirators to Jerusalem.

Sudeley was not Ralph's first great project, having extensively renovated the Manor on the More, the house he used when attending court, and was later described by a French Ambassador, Jean du Bellay, as more magnificent than Hampton Court. Unfortunately, Ralph failed to gain royal permission to crenellate the castle, and had to seek Henry VI's pardon.

Ralph built Sudeley Castle on a double courtyard plan; with the outer courtyard being used by servants and men-at-arms, and the inner court and its buildings reserved for the use of Ralph and his family. When approached from the outside, the edges of the hall's oriel windows are decorated with what is presumed to be the White Rose of York.

The banqueting hall now lies in partial ruins, and has been redesigned as a garden, with roses and ivy climbing the walls. In 2018, conservators were working to stabilise the ruin.

After the death of Richard at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, Sudeley, as property of the crown, transferred to King Henry VII, who in turn presented it to his uncle Jasper Tudor.

Catherine Parr

thumb|right|The [[Melton Constable Hall|Melton Constable or Hastings portrait of Catherine Parr]]

During his reign, King Henry VIII only stayed at Sudeley once, on his 1535 Royal Progress with Anne Boleyn. In the months leading up to Henry's visit to Sudeley, he started to enact the Dissolution of the Monasteries, executing Bishop John Fisher and Sir Thomas More. Moreover, it was while he was at Sudeley that Pope Paul III and Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I started discussing his excommunication and removal.

The death of Henry and the accession of King Edward VI led way for the rise of Edward and Thomas Seymour. Henry's will had an "unfulfilled gifts" clause that allowed for his executors to award themselves new lands and titles, which led to Edward being declared Lord Protector of the Realm, and making his brother Baron Seymour of Sudeley. The castle was specially prepared for this move, and descriptions still exist of what Catherine's bedchamber looked like. During Parr's tenure, one of her attendants was Lady Jane Grey, Thomas Seymour's ward, who would be queen for nine days in 1553.

thumb|Tomb of Catherine Parr, added in 1863

Catherine died at Sudeley on 5 September 1548 from what was described as "childbed fever", five days after giving birth to her daughter Mary Seymour. At the funeral, Lady Jane Grey was the chief mourner, and ecclesiastical reformer Myles Coverdale preached his first Protestant sermon.

Catherine was buried two days later at St. Mary's Church, within the grounds of Sudeley, in what was the first Protestant funeral in English. Over the next two centuries, her original tomb was "mutilated and defaced" and the location of her burial place was lost. In 1782, a coffin was discovered, with a lead plate that read "Here lyeth Quene Kateryne wife to Kyng Henry the VIII and Last the wife of Thomas Lord of Sudeley... dyed 5 September...". In 1792, vandals dug up the coffin. In 1817, the remains were placed in a stone vault near the remains of the 6th Lord Chandos.

After the chapel restoration was completed in 1863, Parr's remains were placed in a new neo-Gothic canopied tomb designed by George Gilbert Scott and created by sculptor John Birnie Philip.

Today, her tomb with its life-sized effigy lying under a canopy of ornately carved marble, is considered a place of pilgrimage. Catherine's brother William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, then inherited the castle, he in turn held Sudeley until 1553, when he was also accused of treason, and Sudeley was seized by the crown.

His elevation almost certainly came from his assistance in the suppression of the Wyatt rebellion.

His son Edmund Brydges heavily remodelled the castle in the 1560s and 1570s, almost completely rebuilding the outer courtyard, the part of the castle that the current family occupy, into what we see now.

Elizabeth I stayed at Sudeley on three occasions during her reign, first visiting her old friend, the recently widowed Dorothy Bray, Baroness Chandos at Sudeley in 1574. Staying again during the Royal Progress of 1575, that saw Robert Dudley throw a lavish party at Kenilworth Castle in a final attempt to convince her to marry him.

Elizabeth's most famous stay at Sudeley was in 1592, when Giles Brydges, 3rd Baron Chandos threw a three-day party for her. Giles extensively landscaped the grounds surrounding the castle in preparation for the visit, and held banquets, plays, dances and gave extravagant gifts during her stay, even presenting his daughter, Elizabeth Brydges to the queen in the guise of Daphne. The visit reputedly almost bankrupted the Brydges family.

The yearly excavations by archaeologists DigVentures began in 2018 and set out to discover more about this party, uncovering extensive Tudor Gardens to the east of the Victorian reconstructed gardens currently on the site. Through these investigations, evidence of multiple phases of landscaping have been revealed, the earliest of which dated to the middle of the 16th century. This is significant as previously these gardens had been attributed to Giles Brydges, 3rd Baron Chandos and the landscaping efforts in advance of Elizabeth's visit. LiDAR shows extensive areas surrounding the castle grounds which still may contain the evidence of these works, but it is worth noting that there appears to have been another phase of work, likely associated with the works done by Thomas Seymour in advance of the arrival of Catherine Parr.

English Civil War

left|thumb|[[Grey Brydges, 5th Baron Chandos "King of the Cotswolds"]]

Under the Chandos family, Sudeley continued to prosper and thrive, with Grey Brydges, 5th Baron Chandos gaining the title "King of the Cotswolds" for his magnificent style of living and his generosity. Records show that he had been buying in expensive tapestries from abroad through William Trumbull, envoy to the Archdukes of Austria, to decorate Sudeley. Grey was an influential courtier and an avid traveller, extensively travelling Europe and taking part in the War of the Jülich Succession. He married Lady Ann Stanley, descendant of Henry VIII's younger sister Princess Mary Tudor, and possible heir to the throne of England. He died in 1621.

Sudeley's final royal occupant was to be Charles I during the English Civil War, a war that was fought between the king and parliament.

Buried in debt, the lord was unable to rebuild Sudeley, and he died in 1655 after years of being imprisoned in the Tower of London. On his death, the semi derelict castle was inherited by his widow, Lady Jane Savage, separating from the title Baron Chandos for the first time in over a century. She did not have the means to restore it and the castle was a neglected ruin for almost 200 years.

Victorian renaissance

thumb|300x300px|Engraving of Sudeley Castle in 1732, showing the ruinous inner court, and still occupied outer court.

For almost two centuries, the castle was largely left in ruins, but seemingly never becoming fully abandoned.

Sudeley was owned by the Pitt family, descendants of Lady Jane Savage's second marriage, who were elevated to a peerage in 1776 as Baron Rivers.

During the 18th century, they rented Sudeley out to tenants, most notably the Lucas family, members of the local gentry. Joseph Lucas entertained King George III on his visit to the castle in 1788, with Mrs Cox the housekeeper saving the king's life, catching him after he fell down the Octagon Tower.

thumb|300x300px|John and William Dent, the brothers who made their fortune in gloves, and purchased and restored the castle in 1837

One of the previous tenants, John Attwood, had turned the castle into a public house "The Castle Arms", and treated it as a quarry, breaking it up and selling off the stone, timber and lead.

thumb|St Mary's Chapel

The chapel is a Grade I* listed property, as "Church of St Mary". The summary states "Circa 1460 for Ralph Boteler, late C15 or early C16 north aisle, restored 1859–'63 by Sir G.G. Scott for J.C. Dent". (Ralph Boteler, 1st Baron Sudeley was the owner during the first restoration of the castle and the chapel.) The summary goes on to state that the chapel exterior dates primarily to the 15th and 16th centuries and the "interior nearly all to 1859".

When Sudeley was habitable again, the brothers set about filling the castle with art and antiques, buying up a considerable part of Horace Walpole's collection during the Strawberry Hill House Sale of 1842, an auction that lasted 32 days. One report states that they furnished the home with "a remarkable antiquarian collection of furniture, glass and paintings that further fleshed out its history, including some very discerning purchases from the Strawberry Hill sale in 1842".

In 1859, Emma decided to attempt a re-creation of a historic garden. In 1885, she began to "substantially enlarge the house and its services ... she remodelled the western side of the castle through the full length of both courtyards, overbuilding one section of the ruins, and beginning a new tower at its north-east corner". In 1892, she built a "north lodge" on the property.

After Henry Dent Brocklehurst and his wife Marion inherited the property in 1900, they redecorated. Thirty years later, their son, Jack, arranged to "reconfigure the eastern range of the building" and "the creation of a panelled library furnished with an Elizabethan fireplace".

The American-born Elizabeth first came to Sudeley after her marriage to Mark Dent-Brocklehurst in 1962, and in the subsequent years set about preparing to open the castle up to the public, which they did to great celebration in May 1970. The castle website timeline states that in 1969 the castle was inherited by Mark and his American-born wife Elizabeth; the couple converted the property into a tourist attraction.

Mark died in 1972, leaving Elizabeth, Lady Ashcombe to manage Sudeley on her own, and the castle had to survive its third round of heavy death duties in under 50 years. Lord Ashcombe died in 2013. This detailed the turmoil associated with managing the castle by the three members of the Dent-Brocklehurst family. Closing the castle to the general public on some weekdays meant that visitors were disheartened when embarking on their day trips, and resulted in a dramatic fall in visitor numbers in the three years leading up to the creation of the programme.

News reports in April 2008 stated that the family was selling a painting by J.M.W. Turner at auction because the attraction was "losing £100,000 a year" and required a restoration.

Sudeley held a re-enactment of the funeral of Catherine Parr in September 2012, with guidance from historian Dr David Starkey; the event received positive feedback from re-enactment societies.

Recent history

Sudeley is operated by the family and remains the home of Elizabeth, Lady Ashcombe and "her son, daughter and their families" as of 2021. The family is committed to the continued preservation of the castle, its treasures and the ongoing restoration and regeneration of the gardens of Elizabeth, Lady Ashcombe, her children, Henry and Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst,

The castle exhibitions were redesigned and relaunched in 2018 as "Royal Sudeley 1,000: Trials, Triumphs and Treasures", and is set in the 15th-century service wing, covering three floors. It takes visitors through the 1,000 years of Sudeley's history, highlighting important aspects of the castle's past, and exhibiting the historical artefacts and pieces of artwork in the collection.

The castle opens to the public seasonally and sections are used as a hotel, but it also remains a family home, with Elizabeth, Lady Ashcombe often called the "chatelaine of Sudeley". As of 2019, one of the tours of the castle included a visit to the "family's private apartments available daily from Spring to the end of October.

Sudeley has also been used as a wedding venue for some years. Several celebrity weddings have taken place at the castle, from Elizabeth Hurley's wedding in 2007, to Felicity Jones's wedding to Charles Guard in 2018.

In September 2019, thieves stole items from the castle's royal exhibition, including "rare keepsakes made from gold and precious stones and presented by King Edward VII to his last mistress".

Gardens and parkland

Sudeley Castle sits at the heart of a estate within the Cotswold valleys.

thumb|270x270px|Sudeley Castle as visible from the Cotswold Way

The estate itself is made up of a mix of open pasture fields and woodland, and is crisscrossed by a number of public footpaths, most notably, the Cotswold Way, a long-distance footpath. These footpaths have connected Sudeley with other historic towns and monuments, such as Hailes Abbey, Broadway, Belas Knap and Stanway House.

The castle gardens cover some and are available for the public to visit during the castle's open season.thumb|230x230px|A comparison of the Queens' Garden in the Victorian Age and today|leftThe garden is split into ten separate gardens, the centrepiece being the Queens' Garden. The Queens' Garden is the Victorian replanting of an original Elizabethan parterre garden that had been discovered in the same location, the large yew hedges surrounding it date back to 1860.

Another garden at Sudeley is The Knot Garden, made up of more than 1,200 box hedges, its intricate design drew inspiration from the pattern of the dress worn by Elizabeth I in An Allegory of the Tudor Succession, a painting that hangs in the castle.

Sudeley is also home to one of the largest public collections of endangered pheasants in the world, and works closely with the World Pheasant Association. The pheasantry which has been operating at the castle for over 30 years is part of a wider breeding program which has been set up in the hope of increasing the numbers of critically endangered birds before hopefully reintroducing them into their natural habitats.

Tourist attractions

Sudeley Castle has been a tourist attraction since the early 18th century, drawing antiquarians, print makers and artists from across Britain. Some of the earliest of these being Samuel and Nathaniel Buck who visited and drew the castle in 1732 for their book Buck's Antiquities. The castle, as a romantic ruin, welcomed George III who visited in 1788 whilst taking the waters at Cheltenham Spa.

Art collection

The bedrock of Sudeley's art collection was built upon the Strawberry Hill House Sale of 1842. It was one of the most impressive auctions of its day, lasting some 32 days, selling off the art collection of Horace Walpole, son of Robert Walpole, who is generally considered the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. The collection was added to throughout the Victorian age, and then again on the inheritance part of the art collection of Victorian businessman James Morrison of Basildon Park.

thumb|270x270px|An Allegory of the Tudor Succession commissioned by Elizabeth I

Not all the art collection is on display to the public, with a selection of it in the exhibitions; the rest is kept in the family's private rooms. The castle does hold specialist art tours that takes small groups of visitors around the private quarters to view the art; however, these need to be booked in advance to ensure availability.

This is a selection of some of the art highlighted at the castle.

  • An Allegory of the Tudor Succession Commissioned by Elizabeth I for her spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham and attributed to Lucas de Heere
  • Rise of the River Stour at Stourhead by J. M. W. Turner. Dated to 1817 and exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1825; the Tate holds the preparatory sketches for this painting
  • A Portrait of Peter Paul Rubens by Anthony van Dyck woven in wool, silk and metal thread, with floral designs and biblical scenes. Parallels have been drawn between it and the Filioli Tapestry that was bought by J. P. Morgan in 1911 from Knole House.

Sudeley is regarded by some as the model for Blandings Castle in the novels by P. G. Wodehouse. The adaptation for BBC television of Wodehouse's Heavy Weather (1995) was filmed there. The castle has been used as a location in other films and on television including:

  • The Pallisers (1974)
  • Beauty and the Beast (1976)
  • Martin Chuzzlewit (1994)
  • Tess of the D'Urbervilles (2008)
  • Father Brown (2013)
  • Antiques Road Trip (2015)
  • The Great Chelsea Garden Challenge (2015)
  • The White Princess (2017)
  • An American Aristocrat's Guide to Great Estates (2020)
  • The Spanish Princess (2020)

<gallery widths="200" heights="200">

File:Sudeley Castle Queen's Garden (2551357063).jpg|The Queens' Garden

File:Sudeley Castle 6 (5627974001).jpg|St. Mary's Church, Sudeley Castle

File:Sudeley Castle - Knot Garden - looking westwards-geograph-4678443-by-Rob-Farrow.jpg|Knot Garden

File:Sudeley Castle, Cotswolds, England (7246223678).jpg|Catherine Parr antechamber

File:Gloucestershire-SudeleyCastle-CatherineParr.jpg|Catherine Parr's tomb

File:Pheasant at Sudeley Castle (5100).jpg|Sudeley Pheasantry

File:Sudeley Castle, Cotswolds, England (7245252704).jpg|Tithe Barn

File:Sudeley Castle (5038).jpg|Northern Wing

</gallery>

See also

  • Louisa Pitt
  • Castles in Great Britain and Ireland
  • List of castles in England

References