page_title: St Briavels Castle
section_title: 11th and 12th centuries
hierarchical_section_title: St Briavels Castle / History / 11th and 12th centuries
caption_attribution_description: The octagonal "spur" of St Briavel Castle's gatehouse.
context_page_description: St Briavels Castle is a moated Norman castle at St Briavels in the English county of Gloucestershire. The castle is noted for its huge Edwardian gatehouse that guards the entrance.
  St Briavels Castle was originally built between 1075 and 1129 as a royal administrative centre for the Forest of Dean. During the 13th century the castle became first a favourite hunting lodge of King John, and then the primary centre in England for the manufacture of quarrels, large numbers of which were required for crossbows in medieval warfare. The castle was transferred many times between royal favourites in the 14th and 15th centuries and slowly declined in appearance and importance. St Briavels Castle became used primarily as a court and as a notorious debtors' prison, conditions being documented by the prison reformer John Howard in 1775. Following local riots and a parliamentary investigation in the 1830s, reforms in the 19th century brought an end to the castle's use as a prison.
  Extensive renovation at the turn of the 20th century allowed St Briavels Castle to be taken over as a Youth Hostel in 1948. It remains in this role today, owned by English Heritage and open to the public.
context_section_description: St Briavels Castle appears to date from Norman times, although the village itself predates the Norman period. The area was acquired by William FitzOsbern, the first Earl of Hereford in 1067, who built a number of castles across the region, including Chepstow, Monmouth, Clifford and Wigmore. It does not appear that FitzOsbern built a castle on the St Briavels site, however, and the revolt of FitzOsbern's son, Roger de Breteuil resulted in the village being taken into the possession of the royal bailiffs of the Forest of Dean.
  St Briavels Castle was constructed sometime between 1075 and 1129 by royal mandate, although the precise date is uncertain. Walter de Gloucester, the Sheriff of Gloucester and his son Miles de Gloucester made St Briavels Castle the administrative centre of the Forest of Dean. The location of the castle placed it well behind the English border, in an area with little Welsh presence before the invasion, and it therefore appears to have been established for the purposes of royal governance, rather than to protect the Welsh Marches to its west. Equivalents elsewhere in the south-west include Restormel Castle and Lydford Castle in Devon and Cornwall, both regional royal administrative centres. One alternative view, however, sees St Briavels as intended to protect the Severn estuary to the south, along with the royal castles of Bristol and Gloucester. This early castle was of motte and bailey design, the keep probably of wood.
  Miles and his partner Pain fitzJohn strengthened their hold on the Welsh border during the last years of Henry I, but after the king's death in 1135 England descended into the civil war of the Anarchy, as factions loyal to King Stephen and the Empress Matilda fought for control of the country. Fitz John was killed early in the fighting, but Miles declared in favour of Matilda and took control of the castle in his own right. In 1141 the Empress confirmed Miles as the Earl of Hereford and formally granted him St Briavels Castle. Under Miles, the castle escaped the worst of the fighting of the Anarchy. Miles' son, Roger Fitzmiles continued to hold the castle into the reign of Henry II, the empress' son, but a confrontation with the king resulted in it being removed from the earldom and taken back into royal ownership, once again as part of the Forest of Dean. Henry II rebuilt the castle keep in the 1160s, replacing the older wooden structure with stone.
  Royal forests in the early medieval period were subject to special royal jurisdiction; forest law was "harsh and arbitrary, a matter purely for the King's will". Forests were expected to supply the king with hunting grounds, raw materials, goods and money. The Forest of Dean could be used for hunting, but was more important to the king as a major metalworking centre, thanks to the plentiful supply of trees for making charcoal and the iron deposits in the limestone stone of the region. The iron goods constructed locally were stored at the castle before being shipped to other royal locations. The quantities being produced were substantial – in 1172, for example, Henry II received 100 axes, 1,000 picks, 2,000 shovels and 60,000 nails from St Briavel Castle. Richard I took 50,000 horseshoes on crusade with him from St Briavel. The constable of St Briavel Castle had wide-ranging responsibilities within the Forest, including managing the rights and privileges of the iron-workers, exercised through the Miners' and the Hundreds Court of the castle.
caption: The octagonal "spurs" designed to prevent undermining.
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