Berkeley Castle

This Castle, still held by the family which built the current structure in the 12th century, was the site of a grizzly regicide. Or was it?

The first (motte and bailey)  castle at Berkeley (built around 1067) was subject to the first of many rebuilds  by the original  Berkeley family in the first half of the 12th century. The original castle mound is still in place. The last of the original Berkeley’s , Roger de Berkeley, was dispossessed in 1152 for withholding his allegiance from the house of Plantagenet  during the  civil war which raged in  England between 1135 and 1154 (known as the Anarchy). The Barony  of Berkeley was then granted to Plantagenet supporter Robert  Fitzharding, who adopted the Berkeley name  was thus  the founder of the current Berkeley family. The same family still holds the castle today .

In 1153–54, Fitzharding received royal permission to rebuild the castle. This was seen as essential to the aim of defending the Severn estuary, and the Welsh  border as well as the important road connection between the two major ports of Bristol and Gloucester. Thus the last major rebuild by the current Berkeley family began in 1153 making this castle the oldest castle in England still owned by the family that built it. Much of the current  castle  is  of 14th century construction although much of  the 12th century structure  is still largely intact. Improvements were still being made, in the medieval style, until the 1920s

The castle was ransacked in 1326 by the forces of Hugh Despenser the favourite of Edward II. Then in 1327, Edward was deposed by his wife Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer. King Edward  was placed in the joint custody of Thomas de Berkeley and his brother-in-law John Maltravers and held in Berkeley Castle for five months until he was briefly set free by a band of his supporters. He was recaptured and eventually returned to Berkeley Castle and reputedly murdered there on 21 September 1327 (popularly held to have been by means of a red hot poker inserted through the anus). However the means of Edward's death and even whether he was actually murdered remains disputed. However the cell where he is supposed to have been imprisoned and murdered can still be seen, along with a 36 feet  deep dungeon next to it. It is said that sounds of the events of the murder can be heard in the room on 21 September every year.

A breach in the keep wall created during a siege in the English Civil War of the 17th century can still be seen.

The attractions at the castle also include the picture gallery, the great hall and armoury and the fascinating below stairs section. In the very attractive gardens is also a tropical butterfly house.