House and Garden 
BROUGHTON CASTLE FROM THE SOUTHWEST 
The C 
ouncil 
Chamber where the Civil War was Planned is at the top of the Tower beneath the Double Gable 
came to such a cruel death at the hands of jack 
Cade’s rebels in 1450. A picture at the castle 
tells the sad story of his savage murder, a story 
which Shakespeare has told before in his drama 
of Henry VI., Act IV, Scene 7. 
But Broughton Castle in its early days knew 
other owners. Parts of the present building were 
erected by the Broughton family, which derived 
its name from this place. They occupied a posi¬ 
tion of rank and consequence, and divers members 
of the family were engaged in the king’s service 
in the thirteenth century. Early in the fourteenth 
century they began to build their castle, and near it, 
some fifty yards away from the lily-bespread moat, 
they reared the beautiful church. A fine canopied 
tomb and monument of the time of Edward IE, 
a rich and beautiful specimen of Decorated work, 
is traditionally said to represent the De Broughton 
who founded the church and castle. Then the 
castle and lands passed into the hands of the Wyke- 
ham family, of which the famous architect-bishop, 
William of Wykeham, was the most celebrated. 
He purchased the castle and estates from Sir Thomas 
de Broughton in 1377, and then settled the property 
on Sir Thomas Perrot, who assumed the name 
of Wykeham, and Margaret his wife, daughter of 
Agnes, the Bishop’s sister. In 1450 Margaret, 
the heiress of the Wykeham family, was married 
to William, Lord Saye and Sele, the son of the 
victim of Jack Cade’s rebellion, and thus this famous 
house passed into the possession of the distinguished 
family who have held it so long. 
The Lords of Saye and Sele have had varied 
fortunes. This William who acquired Broughton 
by marriage did not long enjoy its possession. He 
was an ardent supporter of Edward IV., had twice 
been captured by the Lancastrians, and had to 
sacrifice his estate of Knowle in order to obtain a 
ransom. He had fled with Edward to Flanders 
and sold thirty manors in order to raise troops 
for his sovereign, and then—irony of fate—fell 
in the hour of victory at Barnet when the cause 
was won on which he had staked his all. He has 
a fine tomb in the church at Broughton; his helmet 
and gauntlets hang there and still tell of the fame 
of the fallen warrior. 
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