Thornbury Castle, Thornbury, England

The approach to the castle from the main entrance is through the outer courtyard, which is now partly used as a vineyard. The south-west facing frontage of the main building is situated on either side of an archway leading into the inner courtyard. This is bounded by buildings on the north-west, south-west and south-east sides, facing inwards onto a plain grassed area. Mounting steps are positioned to the side of the hotel entrance in the south-east block of the building.

The north-east part of the site consists of open lawns with a boundary of trees and also some individual tree plantings. The south-east aspect of the existing residence overlooks the inner garden of lawns, one of which is octagonal. This inner garden is separated from the eastern area of the garden by castellated yew hedges. Beyond these are further lawns and flowerbeds. The whole garden area is surrounded by castellated walls some 4.5 - 6 metres in height.

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.  

Early 16th century castle grounds and privy garden, remodelled about 1854 by Anthony Salvin.
 

DESCRIPTION

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

Thornbury Castle is located on the northern edge of the market town of Thornbury on the flat plain between the Cotswolds and the Severn. The gardens cover about 2 hectares and are completely enclosed by walls which define the boundaries of the site here registered. North and east of the registered site is Thornbury Park, the former park of the third Duke of Buckingham, which has a scattering of 19th century trees, including deodar cedars, limes, and a London plane. This land contains a neoclassical house from the 1830s and late 20th century residential units developed for The Sheiling School, Camphill Community which occupies Thornbury Park. To the south is St Mary's church (12th century origins, Listed Grade I) which was largely rebuilt at the end of the 15th and into the 16th century, as part of the third Duke's plans to establish a college here. West of the west curtain wall, and outside the site here registered, is an area known as the Pithay, now an area of rough grazing. Its historic development is uncertain although 'the Pitties' is referred to in an Inventory of 1521 by the Crown Commissioners. Although backfilled with large amounts of building rubble in the 1970s, it was evidently the site of extensive quarrying and excavation, and it is possible that it was the site of part of an abortive scheme by the Duke of Buckingham to cut a canal from the Castle to the River Severn to the west.

REFERENCES

S and N Buck, Buck's Antiquities, in England and Wales (1774)

Country Life, 22 (16 November 1907), pp 702-11

A Tipping, English Gardens (1925), pp 337-42

Trans Bristol Gloucestershire Archaeol Soc 95, (1977), pp 51-8

R Strong, The Renaissance Garden in England (1979), p 24

N Kingsley, The Country Houses of Gloucestershire: Volume One, 1500-1660 (1989), pp 186-9

Thornbury Castle: Garden History and Restoration Plan, (Nicholas Pearson Associates 1992)

Thornbury Castle: a report on the trial excavations in the Privy Garden, (Bath Archaeological Trust 1992)

N Kingsley, and M Hill, The Country Houses of Gloucestershire: Volume Three, 1830-2000 (2001), p 295

T Mowl, Historic Gardens of Gloucestershire (2002), pp 15-20.

D Verey and A Brooks, The Buildings of England: Gloucestershire The Vale and the Forest of Dean (3rd edn 2002), pp 752-5

Description written: October 2002

Edited: September 2003