William, his son and heir, dropped the name of Gernon and took the name of Montfitchet, which was used thereafter by his descendants. William founded the Abbey of Stratford Langthorne in West Ham. Of William's son, Gilbert de Montfitchet, little is known. I n 1203, Richard died, leaving his son Richard II a minor. He became a royal ward of King John and was placed in the care of Roger de Lacey, Constable of Chester and, subsequently in 1211, became a ward of his mother.
H is motives and the order of events are both obscure.
But John was swift to react when it was in his power to do so. Two of the rebel leaders, Eustace and Fitzwalter, were in 1212 found guilty of treasonable designs and outlawed. John followed this up by destroying as many of his opponents' castles as he could and Mountfitchet Castle seems to be one of these. R ichard died in 1258, having regained royal favour under Henry III, who restored all his estates, but he lacked heirs as he apparently never married and the Montfitchet possessions were divided among his three sisters, thus bringing an end to the reign of the Montfitchets. A fter the attack on the Castle around 1215 by King John, the stones were taken by the villagers to build their houses and the castle site lay overgrown and forgotten for over 700 years until its re-construction today.