HAMPTON COURT CASTLE
Herefordshire
Although
this is clearly a
defensive structure, it was until very recently, only ever known as
Hampton
Court, the word “Castle” is a very recent addition.
The
manor here was granted to Sir
Rowland Lenthall by Henry IV and he built the original manor house
around 1427.
Seven years later Henry VI granted him a licence to crenellate and he
turned is
manor into a Castle.
Sir
Rowland was succeeded by his
daughter who married into the Barony of Burford and in 1510 her
grandson sold
Hampton Court Castle to Sir Humphrey Coningsby.
The
Castle remained with the
Coningsbys until early in the 19th Century when
Richard Arkwright,
son of the famous inventor of the same name, purchased the property.
His son,
John, then began remodelling the house during the 1830s and 40s to
designs by
Charles Hanbury Tracy. This work diluted the purity of the mediæval
structure
somewhat but was done with a certain degree of taste and an eye to not
destroying the look of the Castle.
The
Arkwrights lived at Hampton
Court until 1912.
Today
the Castle and Grounds are
open to the public during the summer and are available for hire for
weddings,
corporate events and the like.
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© Text copyright - Raving Loony
Productions,
Andrew J. Müller and
Roy Barton
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2018
