Warwick Castle, Warwick, England

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

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

The town of Warwick was laid out as a fortified burgh in AD 914 by Ethelfleda, 'Lady of the Mercians', and in 1068 William I built a motte and bailey castle between the town and the north side of the River Avon. Henry de Beaumont (died 1119), also known as de Newburgh, was appointed Constable of the royal castle, and was succeeded by six members of his family until the death of Thomas de Newburgh, Earl of Warwick in 1242. In 1268 the Castle and earldom passed by inheritance to William de Beauchamp, ninth Earl (died 1298). The eleventh Earl, who came of age in 1329, began a programme of rebuilding which was continued by his son, also Thomas, who inherited in 1369. The thirteenth Earl, Richard, who inherited in 1401, served as Captain of Calais under Henry V, while his son Henry, who succeeded as fourteenth Earl in 1439, was created Duke of Warwick in 1445. The Duke died at the age of twenty in 1446 leaving a young daughter who died in 1449; the title and estates then passed to the late Duke's sister, Anne, wife of Richard Neville. Neville, known as 'The Kingmaker', played a prominent role in the Wars of the Roses, and was killed at the Battle of Barnet in 1471. Neville was succeeded by his son-in-law, George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, who was executed for treason in 1478; his son, although styled Earl of Warwick, spent most of his life in prison, until executed by Henry VII in 1499. Richard III, husband of Neville's second daughter, spent time at Warwick and made alterations to the buildings.

Under Henry VII and Henry VIII the Castle remained royal property. Edward VI granted the Castle to John Dudley, Earl of Warwick and subsequently Duke of Northumberland, in 1547; he was executed by Mary I in 1553, and was succeeded after the accession of Queen Elizabeth by his son, Ambrose, created Earl of Warwick in 1561. The Queen visited Warwick Castle on her progress to Kenilworth Castle (see description of this site elsewhere in the Register) in 1572. When Ambrose Dudley died without surviving issue in 1590, the Castle reverted to the Crown. James I separated the earldom from the Castle when in 1604 he granted the Castle to Sir Fulke Greville, and in 1618 created Robert Rich Earl of Warwick. Having seats at Holland House, London (see description of this site elsewhere in the Register) and Leighs Priory, Essex the Rich family did not maintain a residence at Warwick.

Sir Fulke Greville, Treasurer of the Navy (1599-1604) and Chancellor of the Exchequer (1614-21), spent some £20,000 restoring the Castle and laying out new gardens; it was visited by James I in 1617. Greville was created Baron Brooke in 1621, but in 1628 was murdered by one of his servants. The estate passed to his cousin, Robert Greville, second Lord Brooke, who supported Parliament in the Civil War and was killed at Lichfield in 1643, the same year that the Castle was besieged by Royalist forces for two weeks. The fourth Lord Brooke, who inherited in 1658, undertook a major programme of restoration and improvement between 1669 and 1678. Few changes were then made to the Castle until Francis, eighth Lord Brooke succeeded in 1727 (created Earl of Warwick in 1759). Lord Brooke made alterations to the Castle from the mid 1740s, and in 1749 called in Lancelot Brown (1716-83), then still gardener at Stowe, Buckinghamshire (see description of this site elsewhere in the Register) to complete the removal of the formal gardens; this process is shown in one of Canaletto's paintings of the Castle of around 1749 (Paul Mellon Collection). Brown made further changes to the pleasure grounds in 1753, and from 1755 began to landscape Castle Park which was extended in 1760 by the enclosure of land in Barford parish. Warwick Castle is one of a group of sites in Warwickshire at which Brown advised in the mid- and late 18th century; it includes Charlecote Park, Combe Abbey, Compton Verney, Newnham Paddox, Packington Hall, and Ragley Hall. There are descriptions of all these sites in the Register.

The first Earl died in 1773 and was succeeded as second Earl by his son, George (died 1816), who in 1786 extended Castle Park by diverting the Banbury Road. In 1802 the Earl was declared bankrupt, and while solvency was gradually restored few changes took place until the mid-19th century. The fourth Earl, who succeeded in 1853, employed Anthony Salvin (1799-1881) to make improvements to the private apartments, while in 1868-9 Robert Marnock (1800-89) was commissioned to design new formal gardens. The Castle was seriously damaged by fire in 1871, but was restored by Salvin. The fourth Earl died in 1893, when he was succeeded as fifth Earl by Francis Richard, who was married to the heiress Frances Maynard, owner in her own right of Easton Lodge, Essex (see description of this site elsewhere in the Register). Frances, known as Daisy, was an intimate of Edward VII, both as Prince of Wales and King; he was a frequent visitor to the Castle. Following the death of the fifth Earl in 1924 the Castle remained in the Greville family until November 1978 when the buildings, contents, and pleasure grounds were sold by the seventh Earl (died 1984) to Madame Tussaud's; Castle Park was sold to a separate commercial purchaser. Plans for the development of the Park with two golf courses and an hotel were dismissed at public enquiry in 1991. Today (2000), the site remains in divided commercial ownership.