The New Murrey and Blue blog

Hanley Castle is located in the south-western part of Worcestershire, only a short distance from the Gloucestershire border. Today it is a small, agreeable village, notable for a school, an excellent pub, The Three Kings and an interesting church, consecrated in 1325.

As the place name implies, there was once a castle here, although all that is left of it is its earthworks, the last stone having been removed many years ago.

The castle in its original form was built around 1207 as a hunting lodge for King John. (Malvern Chase is immediately adjacent, and was originally a royal hunting preserve. Later it was granted to the de Clares, and for many years descended with the manor.) The castle also had its own hunting park, quite distinct from the Chase, so an owner who enjoyed killing wildlife (as most medieval nobles did) was excessively well catered for.

In 1217 a young Henry III granted Hanley to Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, who was no doubt suitably grateful. (As an aside it was this de Clare who married his daughter, Isabel, to Robert de Bruce, Lord of Annandale, thus creating a cousinship between the future de Clares and the Bruces.)

Hanley was an agreeable addition for the de Clares. It was not far from their important manor of Tewkesbury where there was yet another hunting park.

Gilbert’s grandson, another Gilbert and a not particularly pleasant person – among other things responsible for a massacre of Jews in Canterbury – eventually married, as his second wife, Joan of Acre, Edward I’s daughter. His lands were surrendered to the King and regranted to the couple in jointure.

Their only son (yet another Gilbert) was killed at Bannockburn and his lands were eventually shared by the earl’s three sisters.

Hanley, along with Glamorgan and Tewkesbury and various other desirable properties fell to the eldest, Eleanor, who was the wife of Hugh Despenser the Younger. Hugh was of course, extremely influential over Edward II, even being called ‘the King’s husband.’ There is some evidence, moreover, identified by Kathryn Warner, that Edward was also extremely close to his niece, Eleanor. In any event, the Despensers became very unpopular in certain quarters.

Hanley was seized by rebels in 1322 and may have been extensively damaged. The King – note, the King – paid out over £1500 for repairs and improvements between then and 1326. No fewer than 87 great oaks were brought from Iron Acton by water as a contribution to the work and an army of a thousand labourers were paid 2d each per day during 1324 to improve the moat, widening it to 60 feet and deepening it to seven feet.

None of this prevented the fall and execution of Hugh Despenser and the forfeiture of his lands. His wife Eleanor was imprisoned for a time, but by 1328 was living at Hanley Castle, from whence she was abducted by William la Zouche and forced into marriage. (Eleanor’s life was certainly ‘interesting’. She had periods of great power, but also great suffering.)

The Despensers slowly rebuilt their fortunes. Hugh’s son, yet another Hugh, and this younger Hugh’s nephew, Edward, were loyal servants to Edward III in his wars and were suitably appreciated. Edward was undoubtedly one of the most respected knights of his generation, at a time when there was a very high bar.

When Edward died in November 1375, at the early age of only 39, Hanley Castle passed to his widow, the rich heiress Elizabeth Burghersh as part of her dower. Their only surviving son, and youngest child, Thomas, was little more than two years old at the time. Elizabeth gained his wardship (an unusual favour for a mother) but his marriage passed to Edmund of Langley, at this time Earl of Cambridge but later Duke of York.

Edmund was by some way the most impoverished of Edward III‘s sons, the only one not to marry an heiress. The Despenser marriage was manna from heaven for him – it enabled him to provide for the future of his daughter, Constance, at zero cost to his pocket. In addition, part of the ‘farm’ that Elizabeth paid to the crown for the wardship was allocated to Edmund. Later, his daughter’s upkeep was also provided for by the same source. As good as any lottery win!

Thomas and Constance were ‘married’ at a very young age but it is not clear when they began to live with one another. However, it appears Elizabeth allowed them the use of Hanley Castle. (She also granted them the lease of her dower lands in Glamorgan, perhaps simply for administrative convenience.)

Thomas was high in the favour of King Richard II – no doubt his marriage into the York family was no hindrance, given that York was apparently Richard’s favourite uncle, and Constance’s brother Edward, not only one of his most prominent advisers but apparently his preferred successor.) The revolution of 1399 threw the Despensers down with a bump. Thomas was imprisoned for a while, stripped of his new title of Earl of Gloucester, and murdered by a mob following the Epiphany Rising. (His actual involvement in the plot is questionable. Not all sources mention his name, but he was certainly treated as if he was part of it. It is possible an injustice was done.)

Elizabeth had to appeal for the release of some of her possessions, wrongly seized from Hanley Castle. But other Despenser possessions were apparently secreted by who knows whom. All was chaos. What we can say is that Elizabeth retained Hanley.

However, the castle conveniently passed into the real possession of Edward, Duke of York. In 1403 he obtained the wardship of his nephew, Richard Despenser. (He displaced his sister, who had previously been promised that she could hold the wardship even if others offered to pay more for it.) He may also, perhaps by way of lease, have got hold of part of Elizabeth’s dower lands before her death in July 1409. Certainly, from September that year, Edward was living there for several months, accompanied by his wife, Philippa, and for at least part of the time by no less a person than Henry, Prince of Wales!

Edward’s household accounts for this period survive, remarkably, and have been published by the Worcestershire Historical Society. They are full of interest.

The York family’s very firm grip on the Despenser teat only ended with the death of the second Duke of York at Agincourt and that of his sister, late in the following year. Hanley now passed to Isabelle Despenser, daughter of Thomas and Constance and her husband, Richard Beauchamp of Abergavenny, created Earl of Worcester in 1421. Their only daughter, Elizabeth, was born at Hanley Castle.

In 1422 Worcester died, aged about 28, killed in action in France. Next year at Hanley Castle his widow avoided confusion by marrying his cousin and namesake, the Earl of Warwick. The merger of the Despenser and Beauchamp interests in the area rendered them quite extraordinary local power. No other family could touch them. As Warwick spent much of his time in France, Isabelle managed their affairs in England, an example of a relatively young woman (she was 23 in 1423) exercising enormous power and carrying great responsibility.

Their son, Henry Duke of Warwick, did not live long. He died at Hanley Castle in 1446, demonstrating that it was still a favoured family residence at that time. Subsequently, it passed to Warwick the Kingmaker and George, Duke of Clarence, but neither seems to have made much use of it. They owned many homes, and at this time there was a tendency towards living in fewer places but making those few grander and more luxurious. By the end of the century, it appears the castle was already in virtual disuse, and from then on it went the way of all flesh.

Hanley Castle is the centrepiece of a recent novel of the same name by Brian Wainwright, the second of his series about Constance of York.