Tamworth and Tamworth Castle

On the way home from finishing walking Hadrian's Wall, I had just had to stop at Tamworth to visit the castle there as a strong contender for one of the best Midland castles in England.

An extract from 'Britain's top 25 Castles' although publication has been delayed due to COVID restrictions.

Tamworth became the chief residence of Offa, ruler of the expanding Mercian kingdom, perhaps remembered today by the 220 kilometres Offa’s Dyke to protect his kingdom from the Welsh and today known as a long distance walking path. He built a palace overlooking the confluence of the Anker and Tame Rivers. It was from here that there were various charters issued, the first dating from 781AD. Little trace of its former glory survived the Viking attack in 874AD that destroyed the town.

In 913AD, Tamworth was rebuilt by Æthelflæd, eldest daughter of Alfred the Great, who ruled Mercia  911 - 918.  She fortified the town with an earthen burgh. This, however, was insufficient to defend the place when it was attacked by the Danes in 943AD.

There is no more mention of Tamworth in records despite having a mint there that struck coins for later Anglo-Saxon kings and eventually for the new Norman monarch, William the Conqueror. After the Norman Invasion the town was granted to William's steward, Robert Despenser, who built a motte and bailey castle in the 1080’s.

When Robert died childless, the castle passed to his niece Matilida who married Robert Marmion, 1st Baron Marmion of Tamworth. The Marmion family, hereditary champions of the Dukes of Normandy, held the castle for six generations until 1294. It was during their occupancy that the castle began to be remodelled in stone.

Robert Marmion, 3rd Baron Marmion of Tamworth, deserted King John in 1215. The king ordered Robert's son Geoffrey to be imprisoned, all of Robert's lands were confiscated and Tamworth Castle was to be demolished. Only some minor demolition had occurred by the time of John's death the following year when Robert's sons were able to regain the largely still intact castle.

Numerous additions were made to the castle over the centuries, especially in the Jacobean period, from which time the arms of the Ferrers family and those with whom they intermarried came to dominate the interior. Despite being built as a castle and then used as a residence, the castle's defences would be used once again. During the English Civil War, it was captured by Parliamentary forces on 25th June 1643 after just a two-day siege. It was garrisoned by Parliamentary forces and so the castle therefore escaped the slighting ordered for so many others in that period.

After 1668 the castle passed through several families until 1891 when Marquess Townshend put the castle up for sale by auction and it was purchased by its present owners, Tamworth Corporation who opened it as a tourist attraction. They landscaped the castle grounds as a public amenity. It is a great place to visit, it has a lot to see with interactive exhibits but it is not sufficiently large to get into the top list

  

The old bridge over the River Tame. 

The grand entrance to the castle just across the road that crosses the bridge seen to the left with a glimpse of the river just north of the car park.

A view of the castle from the park between the river and the castle on the top of the motte.

A closer view of the castle from the same position.

An aerial view of the castle.

A view from the castle's entrances down the narrow path from the town.

A view of the little cafe at the base of the walk from the town up to the castle. 

A view back towards the entrance into the castle.

The opposite entrance from the courtyard into the interior of the castle itself.

A view of the courtyard and  on the left is the the large window giving light into the main hall.

The Dining Room.

An ante chamber. 

The lord's bed chamber....

... and the bedchamber of his man servant next door.    

                                           

Cooke's bathroom...

...just off his bed chamber. 

One of the many rooms furnished as it would have been when the castle was lived in by the family.

An d another room.

The Great Hall.

The castle isjust a two minute walk from the centre of the town.

The Market Hall in the city centre with a statue of Sir Robert Peel who was the MP for the town for 12 years until his death in 1850.

                                           

The local church, St Edith's.