A SKETCH OF OLD NEWCASTLE. 93 



in Domesday book, and this seems to indicate that it had 

 no existence in the time of the Conqueror, who died some 

 two years after that remarkable document was compiled. 

 Several succeeding kings were great castle-builders, and 

 it has been conjectured that Henry I. (1100) founded the 

 new castle, though it is not mentioned till nearly the end 

 of the reign of Stephen, who bestowed upon Randle, Earl 

 of Chester, the new castle of Staffordshire, with other 

 castles and demesnes ; and this was the only royal castle 

 in North Staffordshire at that time. A mistake in read- 

 ing Camden's account of a visit to Newcastle has pro- 

 bably led to some confusion of dates in reference to the 

 founding of the castle of the old borough. He speaks of 

 having seen " the ruinous and shattered walls of an old 

 castle," as though at Chesterton ; but it seems pretty clear 

 that it was the ruin of our castle he saw on the Castle 

 mound, and not that of Chesterton. 



It would be tedious on the present occasion to follow 

 the history of the castle throughout its various changes 

 of tenants or holders. It will be sufficient, perhaps, to 

 notice several well-known names connected with it. 



In the year 1215, King John (who by-the-bye, some 

 years before, in 1203, fined the town for changing its 

 market day from Sunday to Monday,) made a grant of 

 Newcastle and its liberties to the famous Randle de Blon- 

 derville, Earl of Chester, a man of some celebrity in his day, 

 and who built Beeston Castle in Cheshire, and Chartley 

 Castle in this county. It does not seem, however, to 

 have remained long in his possession, for it had reverted 

 to the Crown in the next reign. The castle was under 

 the government of a constable while in royal hands, and 

 sundry of the tenants in the neighbourhood had to per- 



