page_title: Sudeley Castle
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Sudeley Castle / History
caption_attribution_description: English: The garden and fountain at Sudeley Castle . Located near Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, England.
context_page_description: Sudeley Castle is located in the Cotswolds near Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, England. The present structure was built in the 15th century and may have been on the site of a 12th-century castle. The castle has a notable garden, which is designed and maintained to a very high standard. The chapel, St. Mary's Sudeley, is the burial place of the English queen Catherine Parr and contains her marble tomb. Unusually for a castle chapel, St Mary's of Sudeley is part of the local parish of the Church of England. Sudeley is also one of the few castles left in England that is still a residence. As a result, the castle is only open to visitors on specific dates, and private family quarters are closed to the public. It is a Grade I listed building, and recognised as an internationally important structure.
context_section_description: A castle may have been built on the site during the reign of King Stephen (1135–1154). In 1442, Ralph Boteler, who was created Baron Sudeley by King Henry VI, inherited Sudeley Castle and built the current castle on its present site, using what he had earned fighting in the Hundred Years' War. He built quarters for servants and men at arms on the double courtyard that was surrounded by a moat. He also added state and family apartments on the second courtyard. The Chapel, which would become St. Mary's, and the tithe barn were also built under Boteler. Unfortunately, Boteler failed to gain royal permission to crenellate the castle, and had to seek King Henry VI's pardon.
  Due to his support for the Lancastrian cause, King Edward IV confiscated the castle from Boteler in 1469, and gave it to his brother, the future King Richard III. Richard used the castle as a base for the Battle of Tewkesbury. He later exchanged this property for Richmond Castle, making Sudeley property of the crown. Ownership of the castle returned to Richard when he became king in 1483. During his reign, the Banqueting Hall, with oriel windows, and the adjoining state rooms, now in ruins, were built in place of the eastern range of Boteler's inner court as part of a royal suite.
  After King Richard's death at the Battle of Bosworth, Sudeley passed to the new king, Henry VII, who then gave it to his uncle, Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford.  By the time Henry VIII succeeded to the throne, the castle was the property of the Crown again. In 1535, King Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn, visited the castle, which had been empty and unattended for some time.
  When King Henry VIII died, the castle became the property of his son, King Edward VI, who gave it to his uncle, Thomas Seymour, whom he made Baron Seymour of Sudeley. In early 1547, Lord Seymour married King Edward's stepmother, the dowager queen Catherine Parr. At the announcement of her pregnancy in late 1547, Seymour began to renovate the castle for Catherine's use, but only one room that he built remains today. Lord Seymour and Queen Catherine decided that she should move to Sudeley for the final months of her pregnancy. At about six months, Catherine was accompanied by Lady Jane Grey and a large retinue of ladies to attend on her, as well as over one hundred gentlemen of the household and Yeomen of the guard. Catherine's sister Anne Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, also came and attended upon her as her chief lady and groom of the stool. Catherine gave birth to her daughter, Lady Mary Seymour, on 30 August 1548, only to die on 5 September of that year. She was buried in the Chapel. Her grave was later discovered in 1782, after the castle and the chapel had been left in ruins by the English Civil War. She was later reinterred by the Rector of Sudeley in 1817, and an elaborate tomb was erected in her honour.
  In 1549, Lord Seymour's ambitions led him to be arrested and beheaded; after which, Sudeley Castle became the property of Catherine's brother, William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton. After Parr's involvement with the plot to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne, he was stripped of his property and title by Queen Mary I. Parr regained his titles later on under Queen Elizabeth I, but the castle remained property of the Crown.
  In 1554, Queen Mary I gave Sudeley Castle to John Brydges, 1st Baron Chandos, and it remained his property throughout her reign and the reign of Queen Elizabeth I as well. It was at Sudeley that Elizabeth was entertained three times. A spectacular three-day feast was held there to celebrate the anniversary of the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1592, and Elizabeth Brydges was presented to the queen in the guise of Daphne. John Brydges is buried in the chapel, as is Giles Brugge, 6th Baron Chandos.
  Having been slighted in the English Civil War, the castle remained a 'romantic ruin' for nearly two centuries before being bought by two brothers, glove makers from Worcester.  The restoration work they began was taken over by their heir and nephew, John Coucher Dent, and his wife Emm
caption: The Queen's Gardens at Sudeley Castle
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