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Astley Castle
Nuneaton, Warwickshire
The History of Astley Castle
Astley Castle: Owned by three Queens of England
The grand sweep of events that Astley Castle and its inhabitants witnessed, and just occasionally moulded, makes it a mirror for our national history.
First it was the medieval seat of the Astley family. After the death of Simon de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in 1266, it passed to the Greys, an ancient family who became dramatically involved with the line of royal succession.
In the mid-fifteenth century, beautiful Elizabeth Woodville lived at Astley Castle as the wife of Sir John Grey, who died fighting for the Lancastrians in 1461 in the Wars of the Roses. As a young widow, she caught the eye of Edward, Duke of York, from 1461 Edward IV. They married secretly in 1464, in defiance of the arranged royal marriages of the day. Elizabeth bore him the ill-fated Edward V and his brother Richard, the Princes in the Tower who were presumed murdered to clear Richard III's route to the throne.
Astley Castle was next owned by Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville's eldest daughter, known as Elizabeth of York (though still a Grey by descent). She became Henry VII's queen in 1486, conveniently uniting the Yorkist and new Tudor dynasties.
A granddaughter of Elizabeth of York (and so niece of Henry VIII) was Frances Brandon, who married another Grey, Henry, later Duke of Suffolk, to whom Astley Castle passed. When Henry VIII's young son Edward VI died in 1553, Frances found herself third in line to the throne after Henry's daughters Mary and Elizabeth, whom he had specifically excluded from the line of succession. Lord and Lady Suffolk, an ambitious couple, decided to thrust their reluctant but devoutly Protestant sixteen-year-old daughter, Lady Jane Grey, forward for the throne. Lady Jane was proclaimed queen and ruled in name only for nine days in July 1553 before Mary Tudor's faction prevailed. Lady Jane was beheaded for treason on Tower Hill in February 1554 with her young husband.
After further rebellion, her father Lord Grey was captured in a hollow oak tree at Astley after betrayal by a servant called Underwood, who had been bringing him food. Grey was executed eleven days after his daughter. Frances, the Dowager Duchess, survived to marry Adrian Stokes, a retainer. The fortified parts of Astley Castle were slighted as a result of their treason, but Frances retained ownership.
In 1600, the castle was bought by an enthusiastic new owner, Sir Edward Chamberlain. The Chamberlains rebuilt much of the church and restored the castle, being mostly responsible for its fine south front. During the Civil War, a Parliamentary garrison took up residence in the castle from 1644 until thrown out by the Royalists in 1646.
From this time forward there is a sense that, while always inhabited, the castle began the steady decline that has resulted in its plight today. In 1674 it was bought by the Newdigates who owned the neighbouring Arbury Estate. The castle was never again a significant main residence, but always half-forgotten and something of a problem.
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Astley Castle and George Eliot
George Eliot (christened Mary Ann Evans) is one of our greatest novelists. She was the daughter of the land agent to the Arbury Estate and used Astley and its church (and no doubt its inhabitants) as inspiration for Knebley Church and Knebley Abbey in Scenes from a Clerical Life.
George Eliot's writings provide some of the most vivid descriptions of rural life in nineteenth-century Britain.
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