1865 - Redfern, Francis - History of Town of Uttoxeter (4)

From International Robin Hood Bibliography
Allusion
Date 1865
Author Redfern, Francis
Title History of the Town of Uttoxeter: with Notices of Places in its Neighbourhood
Mentions Chartley Castle; Randolf, Earl of Chester; Robin Hood; Robert de Ferrers, 6th Earl of Derby
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Ruins of Chartley Castle.

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2020-10-18. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2021-01-17.

Allusion

CHARTLEY—CHARTLEY CASTLE.

 Chartley Castle, six miles west of Uttoxeter, was built in 1220, by Richard Blundeville, Earl of Chester, on his return from the Holy Land, and an import was levied on all his vassals to defray the expense of building. After the death of the founder, the castle and estates fell to William Ferrars, Earl of Derby, whose son Robert forfeited them by his rebellion. Afterwards he was allowed to retain them. They were subsequently carried by marriage to the family of Devereux, and then to those of Shirley and [p. 334:] Townsend, and lady Northampton gave up all she could of Chartley, namely, the estate to one of her uncles, the then Earl Ferrars, to whose descendants it now belongs. Of the castle which has been in ruins from before the time of Leland, there remain fragments of two round towers, with loopholes so constructed as to allow of the arrows being shot horizontally into the ditch. The keep was circular, and about fifty feet in diameter. The ancient manor-house was curiously made of wood, the sides carved, and the top embatteled, and the arms of the Devereux, with the devices of the Ferrers and Garnishes, were in the windows, and in many parts within and without the house. For some time it was the prison of the unfortunate Mary, Queen of the Scots, who wrought a bed that was in it. On her way to Stafford in 1575, Queen Elizabeth visited it. It was burnt down in 1781. The park is a thousand acres, and the breed of the wild beasts of Needwood Forest are preserved in it to this day. It is traditionally said that Robin Hood found asylum at Chartley Castle, and its founder, Randall, of Chester, is thus named in connection with the famed Robin, by the author of "Piers Plowman"—

"'I cannot persitly [sic] my paternoster, as the priest it singeth;
I can rhyme of Robin Hood, and Randall of Chester.'[1]

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