John Harington , 2nd Baron Harington
Gleaston Castle was owned by whom from 1347 to 1363?
Gleaston Castle Gleaston Castle is a medieval building in a valley about north-east of the village of Gleaston . The village lies between the towns of Ulverston and Barrow-in-Furness in the Furness peninsula , Cumbria , England . Gleaston Castle has a quadrilateral plan , with a tower at each corner . The largest of these , the north-west tower , probably housed a hall . The castle was most likely built for John Harington , 1st Baron Harington in the 14th century , replacing nearby Aldingham Motte . Gleaston Castle descended through the Harrington family until 1458 when it passed to William Bonville through marriage and was subsequently abandoned . The castle passed to the Grey family until Henry Grey , 1st Duke of Suffolk was executed for treason in 1554 . As a result , Gleaston Castle became royal property before it was bought by the Preston family in the 17th century , and then passed to the Cavendish family . As the castle was disused from the mid-15th century it fell into dilapidation , and antiquarian depictions from the 18th century show Gleaston in a state of ruin . Though it is not open to the public , it has been the subject of historical and archaeological investigation in the 20th and 21st centuries . History . From the 12th century the manor of Muchland was administered from Aldingham Castle . Muchland became known as Aldingham manor and in 1291 it came into the ownership of the Harrington family . In the 14th century , the Scots attacked the Furness peninsula during the Scottish Wars of Independence ; around the same time coastal erosion threatened Aldingham Motte . These factors may have led to the Harrington family abandoning Aldingham and establishing the administrative centre of the manor at the newly built Gleaston Castle , though the construction work could have been the result of their growing social status , and they may have needed more room for a greater number of servants . The castle was probably built for John Harington , 1st Baron Harington ( b . 1281–d . 1347 ) . Gleaston Castle is first mentioned in 1389 , although John Harington , 2nd Baron Harington is said to have died there in 1363 . In 1415 John Harington was granted a papal indult for a private chapel and a portable altar for mass . It is likely , however , that the castle would have had its own chapel before this date . The Harington family owned Gleaston Castle until William Harington , 5th Baron Harington died in 1458 . The castle and barony then passed to William Bonville , 6th Baron Harington through marriage . He died in 1460 and the castle passed to Thomas Grey , 1st Marquess of Dorset , again through marriage . It is likely that around this time Gleaston Castle was abandoned . In 1540 , the antiquarian John Leland noted there is a ruine and waulles of a castell in Lancaster-shire cawlyd Gleston Castell sometyme longinge to Lord Harrington now to the Marquis of Dorset , and other antiquarians provided descriptions of the site . When Henry Grey , 1st Duke of Suffolk was executed for treason in 1554 his property was taken over by the monarch . In 1671 Thomas Preston , 3rd Baronet Preston bought Aldingham manor which included Gleaston Castle . The property descended through the Prestons to the Cavendish family . The castle is now part of an active farm which dates from the 19th century . The farm buildings incorporate some of the fabric of the castle . The Prestons owned the castle until 1922 when it was sold to the current family of owners . According to a 1905 document from the Cumbria Archive Centre up to four human skeletons were discovered at the castle in the 19th century when the farm buildings were built . An engraving by Samuel and Nathaniel Buck from 1727 is one of the earliest depictions of the castle , with later depictions from antiquarian William Close ( 1805 ) , artist William Green ( 1809 ) , and Edwin Waugh ( 1860 ) . The Buck brother’s engraving showed the castle in a state of ruin , and Waughs depiction in particular shows that from the mid-19th century the castle has remained in a similar state of ruin until the present . Preservation and investigation . Gleaston Castle is now a Grade I listed ruin , and a scheduled monument . The ruins can be viewed from the roadside , but it is unsafe to enter the castle due to its state of repair . , the castle is on Historic Englands Heritage At Risk register and its condition is described as very bad and deteriorating . Since the late 20th century there have been efforts to preserve the site : in 1998 the Lancaster University Archaeological Unit conducted an assessment of the standing building for further research and whether it would be possible to open the building to the public , but Historic England notes that no agreement was reached regarding a scheme of consolidation The castles precarious condition meant that the structure was not fully recorded until 2015 , when the Morecambe Bay Partnership with funding from the Castle Studies Trust commissioned Greenlane Archaeology to carry out an aerial survey of the site . As well as producing a visual record of the castle from which elevations and plans could be derived , it identified features within the castle which could be buildings which no longer survive . In 2016 the University of Central Lancashire undertook a geophysical survey , using it as training for archaeology students and volunteers . The survey indicated there was formerly a garden to the north of the castle , and timber structures within the castle . Architecture and layout . Gleaston Castle was abandoned , perhaps around a century after its construction . As a result , the standing remains are an example of 14th-century architecture which has not been adapted by later occupation . The remains consist largely of limestone , which was quarried locally , while sandstone was used for doors and windows . The sandstone may have been recovered from a beach from the castle as there is no local source of sandstone . This method of using red sandstone for architectural details can also be seen at Piel Castle near Barrow-in-Furness . The castle was a walled enclosure long north and south , wide at the south end and wide at the north end . It had four corner towers , dressed with red sandstone . The north-west tower measures and is tall at its highest point . It survives as three portions of standing masonry . The ground slopes , and is higher at the north end than the south . The south-west tower measures , and the four-storey tall tower has a large vertical crack in the west wall . The south-east tower measures and survives to a height of . The north-east tower is mostly collapsed , with earthworks , though some of it may survive in the modern farm buildings . The western curtain wall is thick , and in parts is tall . It has a ruined bastion midway between the north-west and south-west towers . To the east the wall has been partly incorporated into the modern farm buildings , preserving some of the masonry to a height of while in the north and south the wall no longer survives above ground . Landscape . Gleaston Castle is about northwest of Gleaston village in the Furness Peninsula . John Harrington was given a licence to create a park in Aldingham manor and , while its location is uncertain , it may have been east of the castle . It is likely that the manor’s mill was also close to the castle , allowing the Harrington family to control an important local economic resource . According to Greenlane Archaeology , establishing how the castle related to the wider landscape has been identified as a future research priority .