1 lie Garden Front 
HOUSES WITH A HISTORY 
WARWICK CASTLE 
By P. H. Dijtchfield, M.A., F.S.A. 
F EW of the historic houses of England can com¬ 
pete with Warwick Castle in regard to either 
its natural beauty, or its wealth of historical associa¬ 
tions. It possesses all the characteristics of a mediae¬ 
val fortress of great strength 
and grandeur, and may 
be selected as one of the 
best examples in England of 
the castle of ancient days 
which played no inconsid¬ 
erable a part in the times 
of civil strife and in the 
political revolutions of our 
country’s annals. Most of 
our castles are in ruins. 
They were held by Royalists 
in the great Civil War, and 
were “ slighted ” by Crom¬ 
well in order to prevent 
them from proving them¬ 
selves thorns in the sides 
of the Parliamentary party. 
Warwick, having been held 
by Lord Brooke, who fought 
on Cromwell’s side, was 
spared, and therefore re¬ 
tains to-day all the features 
of its former greatness, a 
delightful study for the 
student of the military 
architecture of the Middle 
Ages. It has an ancient 
lineage. Ethelfleda, daugh¬ 
ter of King Alfred, (according to Dugdale) in the 
year 915 A. D., /made a strong fortification here, 
called “the Doungeon” for the resistance of the 
enemy, upon a hill of earth artificially raised near 
the riverside. “ The enemy” 
were the Danes, who at¬ 
tacked Warwick in 1016, 
and well-nigh destroyed the 
fortress of Alfred’s martial 
daughter. The Conqueror, 
who had a keen eye for posi¬ 
tions of natural strength or 
military importance,ordered 
Turchel to fortify the town 
and castle of Warwick. 
Various sums were spent 
upon the repair of the 
walls and the maintenance 
of the garrison in the reign 
of Henry II., Richard I. and 
John; but Simon de Mont- 
fort paid a surprise visit to 
the castle held for the king 
by William Mauduit, Earl 
of Warwick, and wrought 
such effectual destruction 
that nothing of value was 
left save the herbage in the 
castle ditches. 1 his earl, 
like several of his successors 
had no children, and the 
castle and title passed to the 
powerful Beauchamp family. 
THE ENTRANCE—INTERIOR 
29O 
