page_title: Melbourne Castle
section_title: Decline
hierarchical_section_title: Melbourne Castle / History / Decline
caption_attribution_description: English: Ruins of Melbourne Castle, Melbourne, Derbyshire
context_page_description: Melbourne Castle was a medieval castle in Melbourne, Derbyshire. It was built on the site of an earlier royal manor house that had provided accommodation for noblemen hunting in a nearby royal park in the reign of King John. Construction of the castle was started in 1311 by Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, and continued until 1322, shortly before his execution, but the work was never fully completed.
  From the early 14th century, Melbourne Castle was mainly in the possession of the Earls and Dukes of Lancaster or the crown. Improvements and repairs were made, particularly by John of Gaunt, and the building was in generally good condition throughout the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. John I, Duke of Bourbon, was kept at Melbourne for 19 years after his capture at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, and the castle was considered as a possible prison for Mary, Queen of Scots, although events led to her incarceration elsewhere.
  The castle was in decline by the end of the reign of Elizabeth I. Although the stonework was sound, minimal maintenance had led to significant deterioration of other parts of the structure.
context_section_description: When Elizabeth I became queen, she ordered a survey of her castles. A 1562 report told her that only ten castles in the north of her realm were worth keeping; Melbourne was not one of these. A further survey in 1576 reported that, although the stonework was in good condition apart from one chimney and window, the timbers were perished, the lead roof was full of holes, one kitchen was on the verge of collapse, and another needed its floor replacing. In the same year, George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, wrote to the queen to assure her that the castle was in good condition, worth £1,000, and could be repaired for £100. Since he was responsible for keeping the imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots, and her 140 retainers, he hoped to get her moved to Melbourne. In 1583, the castle was inspected again to see if it was suitable to house the captive queen. Although the rooms were sufficient in number and quality, the unfinished building was deemed "imperfect at every corner". The large rooms would need subdividing, the floors were earth and plaster, and there was no paved courtyard "so as being out of dors you are in the myre, for it is verie foule and unpleasaunt to walk round about the said house". In 1584, Queen Elizabeth finally decided to move Mary to Melbourne, only for the plan to be abandoned following the Babington Plot to assassinate the English queen and place her Scottish cousin on the throne.
  In 1597, the castle was being used as a cattle pound, although a survey in 1602 assured Elizabeth that it was a "faire and anciente castle, which her Majesty keepeth in her own hands." The constable's annual fee of £10 was the same as that paid to Ingram Fauconer 140 years earlier.
  The castle and lands were bought for £4,700 in 1604, by Henry Hastings, 5th Earl of Huntingdon, whose family seat at Ashby de la Zouch Castle was just 11 km (7 mi) away. Melbourne Castle was destroyed between 1610 and 1637 so that its materials could be used in other construction. By 1629, it is likely that all the worked stone above ground level had been removed; Sir John Coke of Melbourne Hall obtained permission from the Bishop of Carlisle in that year to quarry stone from the castle foundations. Some of the facing stones were used to repair the weir at King's Mill, seen by some at the time to fulfil the words of a local prophet that "the waters of the Trent should overflow the towers of Melbourne castle". The Hastings estate was gradually sold off, and the castle site was sold by Earl Moira in 1811.
caption: The foundations of the turret (foreground)
exif: {}