page_title: Bedford Castle
section_title: Later history (13–19th centuries)
hierarchical_section_title: Bedford Castle / History / Later history (13–19th centuries)
caption_attribution_description: English: detail of Bedford Castle in early 17th century
context_page_description: Bedford Castle was a large medieval castle in Bedford, England. Built after 1100 by Henry I, the castle played a prominent part in both the civil war of the Anarchy and the First Barons' War. The castle was significantly extended in stone, although the final plan of the castle remains uncertain. Henry III of England besieged the castle in 1224 following a disagreement with Falkes de Breauté; the siege lasted eight weeks and involved an army of as many as 2,700 soldiers with equipment drawn from across England. After the surrender of the castle, the king ordered its destruction.
  Although partially refortified in the 17th century during the English Civil War, the castle remained a ruin until the urban expansion in Bedford during the 19th century, when houses were built across much of the property. Today only part of the motte still stands, forming part of an archaeological park built on the site between 2007 and 2009.
context_section_description: After the siege Henry III ordered the castle to be dismantled and labourers filled in the ditches and halved the height of the stone walls. William de Beauchamp was forbidden to rebuild the castle, and instead built an unfortified house in the inner bailey. St Paul's and St Cuthbert's churches were rebuilt in 1224 using stone from the castle. The sudden availability of cheap stone led to the repaving of many of the town streets in Bedford in 1224. Local tradition suggests that the first stone bridge at Bedford, the Great Bridge, was built using stone from the castle. By 1361 the castle site was described as "a void plot of old enclosed by walls" and seems to have been derelict for most of the medieval period. The antiquarian John Leland visited the site in the 16th century, and noted that the castle was "now clean down". The early 17th century mapmaker John Speed produced a map of Bedford in 1611, showing the motte and a fragment of bailey wall still standing on an otherwise vacant site.
  At the outbreak of the English Civil War, Bedford sided with Parliament; the town was temporarily captured by Prince Rupert of the Rhine in 1643 and the castle was refortified for the duration of the war. A probable wooden fort and prison were built on the remains of the motte and defended by a hundred-man garrison. After the war the motte became used as a bowling green until the 19th century. In 1804 the north-east tower of the castle was turned into a hexagonal building for the local militia unit. Bedford began to spread eastwards in the late 19th century and the castle baileys became desirable property for housing; in 1851 the last parts of the barbican were destroyed to make way for the construction of cottages.
caption: Bedford Castle in John Speed's map of 1611, showing the motte and remaining fragments of the bailey walls
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