page_title: Odiham Castle
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Odiham Castle / History
caption_attribution_description: English: A ground plan of the keep at Odiham Castle in Hampshire, England. Published by the Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland in 1872.
context_page_description: Odiham Castle is a ruined castle situated near Odiham in Hampshire, United Kingdom.
  It is one of only three fortresses built by King John during his reign. The site was possibly chosen by King John because he had visited the area in 1204 and it lay halfway between Windsor and Winchester.
context_section_description: In 1215 it was from either Odiham or Windsor that King John rode out to Runnymede, where he met the barons and attached his seal to the Magna Carta. A year later Odiham Castle was captured by the French after a two-week siege during the First Barons' War in 1216. The garrison of just 13 surrendered on 9 July 1216. At some point over the next nine years the keep was completely rebuilt, possibly to remedy the damage done to it by the French forces. At the same time the mound on which the keep sat was raised by 5 metres and an inner moat surrounding the keep was added to the defences.
  In 1238 Simon de Montfort married King John's daughter Eleanor just two years after she had been granted Odiham by her brother, King Henry III. In the following year a kitchen was added on a bridge over the inner moat and a new hall was added on the outside of the keep. During the same period a second building was constructed over the moat, this time on the south eastern side of the keep, to provide extra living space.
  In 1263 De  Montfort rebelled against Henry and died at the Battle of Evesham in 1265; Eleanor was exiled. Odiham Castle was again retained by the Crown.
  The castle was also involved in the rebellion led by the powerful Despenser family against Roger Mortimer and Queen Isabella of France, the wife of Edward II.
  Odiham Castle hosted Parliament at least once, in 1303. King David II of Scotland, after his capture at the Battle of Neville's Cross in 1346, was imprisoned here for 11 years. He was held under a light guard and was allowed to keep a household. Using the castle as a prison seems to have been common practice during the 13th and 14th centuries; the nearby Manor of Greywell was required to provide guards one night in three.
  By the 15th century Odiham was used only as a hunting lodge, and in 1605 it was described as a ruin.
  In 1792 the Basingstoke Canal was built through the southern corner of the bailey.
caption: A ground plan of the keep at Odiham Castle, published by the  Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland in 1872.
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