by Jon Parker

Created on: December 15, 2006   Last Updated: May 08, 2007

How accurate is the 1985 Bodiam Castle guidebook in telling us why Bodiam Castle was built?

The 1985 Bodiam Castle Guidebook suggests three main reasons why Bodiam Castle could have been built. The first is that it was built to show off Dalyngrigge's wealth and power. The second is that the castle was built to defend a weak spot near the River Rother, vulnerable to French raids. The third is that King Richard wanted a castle built near the Rother.

However, whilst explaining these theories, the guidebook misses out a lot of background information about what was going on at the time in Britain. An example of this lacking information is that there is no mention of the King's struggle for power at the time. King Richard II was only 14 and was therefore a weak king due to his lack of experience.

One supposition in the guidebook justifying why the castle was built is that King Richard II wanted a castle near the river Rother. This is backed up by the licence to crennelate, which was from the king, directing Dallingrigge to, strengthen and crennelate his manor house of Bodyhamand to construct and make thereof a castle in defence of the adjacent countryside and for resistance against our enemies.'

Yet Dalyngrigge evidently felt that he could ignore this request from the King and build a separate castle nearer the river Rother. This is probably because Dalyngrigge felt that the King did not have the power to stop him from building a separate castle.

The guidebook does not touch on the fact that the clause for resistance against our enemies' may not be referring to the French as our enemies', but to the peasants. The peasants were growing more powerful during the Peasants' Revolt and the King would have wanted an extra defence against the rebels in Sussex, where the revolt was particularly bad. This shows that the guidebook is not always reliable as here it has missed out the point that the castle could have been built in defence of the peasants.

It would also make sense, though, for the French to be the enemies' referred to as Bodiam was part of a long chain of defences built along Britain's south-eastern coastline where the French were most likely to attack.

The guidebook concentrates on the theory that the castle was built to defend against the French. Map 1, which is a sketch map of a medieval coastline of the time, agrees with this theory. This shows how the sea came right up to where the river Rother's estuary was. Back then, the Rother was much wider than it is now,

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>