CALUDON CASTLE

Warwickshire

This small chunk of wall stands incongrously in a small park in the outskirts of Coventry amongst some of the least pleasant urban housing to be found in Britain. It today boasts daubs of graffiti on its ancient walls.

The first licence to crenellate here was granted in 1305, and that probably resulted in the low platform upon which the wall stands today; but the wall almost certainly dates from the second licence to crenellate granted in 1354.  The building that exists today has very large windows and was either heavily rebuilt at a later date; or the licence to crenellate wasn't taken very seriously and the Castle was built with residence in mind more than defence.

Thomas Mowbray was created Duke of Norfolk in 1397 and was living at Caludon when he was ordered to fight a duel with the Duke of Hereford (from nearby Baginton Castle, now reduced to vague foundations) by Richard II. As it was the order was a political statement to show the King's power and he stopped the duel and banished both men before the fighting began.

The Castle was supposed to have been rebuilt in the 1580s, but its decline had already begun leading to the rather isolated fragment we have today standing amongst the detritus of the 20th century as a slightly sad reminder of times passed.

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2018