CASTLE INN

Warwickshire

Generally public houses that call themselves "The Castle" aren't worth a second look - but this one, The Castle Inn standing on Edgehill on the border between Warwickshire and Oxfordshire is a spectacular exception.

Edgehill was the site of one of the fiercest battles of the Civil War in 1642.  It stands at the end of a row of hills overlooking the flatlands of Warwickshire and the Castle Inn can be seen from all over the valley.

The Castle was built in 1747 by Sanderson Miller, the man who turned follies into fashion.  The spot for construction was supposed to be the point where Charles I raised his banner before the Battle commenced. The inspiration is undeniably Guy's Tower at Warwick Castle which it apes shamelessly.  Miller would go on to create many folly Castles across Britain, but this is one of the most grateful - and today it operates in the superb function of a public house!

Many Castles have found their way into literature - but the Castle Inn at Edgehill must be one of the few follies to have done so, in Richard Jago's poem "Edge Hill, or the Rural Prospect delineated and moralised" from 1767:

Thanks Miller! to they Paths
That ease our winding steps! Thanks to the fount,
The trees, the flowers, imparting to the sense
Frangrance, or dulcet sound of murmuring rill,
And stilling ev'ry tumult in the breast!
And oft the stately wood, and oft the broken arch,
Or mould'ring wall, well taught to counterfeit
The waste of time, to solemn though excite,
And crown with graceful pomp a shaggy hill.

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© Text copyright - Raving Loony Productions, Andrew J. Müller and Roy Barton
© Photos and Artwork - Andrew J. Müller and Roy Barton
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2018