Mention a castle and images spring to mind of tall stone walls, knights on horseback and beautiful ladies in tall hats. Unfortunately this image is almost certainly not true of Bagworth “Castle”.
We know Bagworth was a comparatively poor estate in the middle of the 13th century, because Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, gave it to one of his closest retainers, Thomas Meynell as a stop-gap measure until ‘something better’ became available for him. It was then worth considerably less than £30 a year.
We also know that there was a Park at Bagworth thanks to the ‘Hundred Rolls’ document produced in 1279/80. At that time Bagworth was held by the Bishop of Durham, Antony le Bek, a religious man but also a wealthy man (and a fearless warrior) who had a well-developed taste for the finer things in life. In the Rolls, Bagworth Park is noted as also being known as “The Manor of the Castle of Bagworth”. The Park was stocked for hunting, as proven by a court case in 1287. Bishop Antony le Bek took 4 local men to court for breaking into his Park at Bagworth and poaching the game in it. When Antony le Bek died in 1311, there was an inquest to establish his estate. The Manor of Bagworth and Thornton was valued at only 60 shillings per year, a figure that was considered to be low.
In 1324 there is a record of Bagworth having 80 acres of land: 27 acres lying fallow and 53 acres uncultivated. This could indicate that it was still being used as a Park for hunting. Ironically, listed on the same document, among the agricultural equipment are listed 14 crossbows and 200 bolts for them – no ploughs are listed.
Antony le Bek’s heir at Bagworth, Robert de Holland obviously thought that living there could be a little unsafe, and in 1318 was granted permission by the king, Edward II, a licence to ‘crenellate’ (fortify) Bagworth House. At the time this licence was granted, Edward II was struggling to keep his throne: his main opponent was the Duke of Lancaster, who also happened to be Robert de Holland’s overlord.
In medieval times, it was normal for kings to travel around the country so that they could see and be seen by the people. In January 1325, the ill-fated Edward II went on such a progress. The king was in Whitwick on 13 January and in Bagworth on 16 January. He was next noted at King’s Langley in Hertfordshire on 23 January, so he must have spent several days at Bagworth for some reason. Whatever Bagworth was – perhaps ‘just’ a hunting lodge – it was still definitely accommodation fit for a King. Later in 1325 Bagworth’s lord, Robert de Holland was murdered – in Essex. His royal guest Edward II was deposed and murdered shortly after, in 1327.
The last de Holland Lord of the Manor of Bagworth and Thornton died in 1374. At the inquest it was noted that he had held a “capital messuage in Bagworth, called the Castle”; this was valued at nothing. A park is listed separately, valued at 2 Marks but rented out at £12 per year. The heir of Robert de Holland was his 17-year old granddaughter Matilda, who was married to Sir John Lovell.
Sir John evidently kept the Park at Bagworth well stocked with game, because in 1399 he was in court with a case against a group of men whom he accused of breaking into his park and poaching. His son, William, had the same problem – in 1436 he took a local clergyman to court for breaking into the park and poaching his game, that errant clergyman was the Vicar of Market Bosworth!
1464 – 1645 – From one civil war to another
William Hastings, a very close friend and trusted councillor of King Edward IV, was the next owner of Bagworth Park. He bought the manor from the Lovells in 1464; well, actually he “encouraged” them to sell to him by some means or other.
In 1474 Hastings was given a licence by Edward IV to crenellate (fortify) his house at Bagworth. Bearing in mind that he already owned the castle at Ashby de la Zouch and was also planning a new castle at Kirby Muxloe, it is unlikely that he did very much at Bagworth. Of interest is the note that Bagworth Park comprised 2000 acres in Hasting’s time. Unfortunately William was summarily executed by Richard III (a friend of the Lovells), in 1484, which brought a very dramatic end to any plans for Bagworth.
The next indication of Bagworth House being of military value is its use in The Great Rebellion, better known to most people as the English Civil War. By this time, 1642, the house was owned by the well-connected Harrington family (in the previous century, John Harrington was a godson of Elizabeth I, and a great favourite of that ultimate property developer Bess of Hardwick). Bagworth was initially garrisoned by Royalist troops under the command of a Captain Devereux Wolseley. In May 1643 a Parliamentarian force from Leicester was despatched to take Bagworth House. Captain Wolseley reported to the Royalist commander Henry Hastings, that the attacking force consisted of no more than 400 men and 2 cannon. Wolseley intended to hold the house for the king but was short of munitions, so the house was lost to the Parliamentarians.
In June 1644, a Royalist force attempted to re-take Bagworth House, but failed. Finally, in June 1645, the Parliamentarian garrison abandoned the house as the Royalist army advanced on Leicester. The house was destroyed at this point. It would have been fortified by the Royalists at the start of the war; these fortifications would have been trenches and earthworks, not stone walls.
Conclusion
In 1270 Henry III granted his son, Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Leicester, permission to hold an annual market in Bagworth; not really conclusive, but it does indicate that Bagworth was not an insignificant village. And Bagworth Castle must have been quite large in the Middle Ages to house the retinue of King Edward II for several days in 1325, but the only weapons listed were crossbows, hardly the armoury of a ‘real’ castle. It may be that it was a fairly substantial manor house, fortified after the fashion of Stokesay Castle in Shropshire. The low value of the house in the 2 inquests indicate that the house was not worth fortifying; that would have been very expensive work.
So, was ‘Bagworth Castle’ just a name? I believe that it was just an honorary name, because it was the biggest building in the area known to the villagers. In conclusion, Bagworth Castle was probably just ‘a posh house’ that impressed the locals enough – for a while – to be called a castle.
Researched and written by Peter Leadbetter
Thornton 