Groby Castle is situated in the large village of

Groby Groby (pronounced "GREW-bee") is a large English village in the county of Leicestershire, to the north west of the city of Leicester. The population at the time of the 2011 census was 6,796. Description The village has expanded vastly since ...

to the north-west of the city of

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

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History

After the Norman Conquest, the area came into the possession of

Hugh de Grandmesnil Hugh de Grandmesnil (1032 – 22 February 1098), (known in French as ''Hugues'' and Latinised as ''Hugo de Grentmesnil'', aliter ''Grentemesnil'', etc.), is one of the proven companions of William the Conqueror known to have fought at the Battle ...

. Groby was one of 67 manors Grandmesnil held in

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

according to the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

. The

Victoria County History The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History or the VCH, is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of En ...

for Leicestershire suggests that Grandmesnil founded Groby Castle, as does the

English Heritage Archive The Historic England Archive is the public archive of Historic England, located in The Engine House on Fire Fly Avenue in Swindon, formerly part of the Swindon Works of the Great Western Railway. It is a public archive of architectural and arch ...

. However, medieval historian R. Allen Brown suggests a foundation date in the third quarter of the 12th century by the

Earl of Leicester Earl of Leicester is a title that has been created seven times. The first title was granted during the 12th century in the Peerage of England. The current title is in the Peerage of the United Kingdom and was created in 1837. Early creations ...

. This figure was accepted by Professor Leonard Cantor and David Cathcart King. Excavations in the 1960s demonstrated that the motte, an artificial mound, was built around a stone tower. Along with

, and

Brackley Brackley is a market town and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England, bordering Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, from Oxford and from Northampton. Historically a market town based on the wool and lace trade, it was built on the inters ...

, Groby was one of three castles belonging to the earl that were destroyed (

slighted Slighting is the deliberate damage of high-status buildings to reduce their value as military, administrative or social structures. This destruction of property sometimes extended to the contents of buildings and the surrounding landscape. It is ...

) on the orders of Henry II after the

Revolt of 1173–1174 The Revolt of 1173–1174 was a rebellion against King Henry II of England by three of his sons, his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, and their rebel supporters. The revolt ended in failure after eighteen months; Henry's rebellious family members had ...

led by his son,

Prince Henry Prince Henry (or Prince Harry) may refer to: People *Henry the Young King (1155–1183), son of Henry II of England, who was crowned king but predeceased his father *Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal (1394–1460) *Henry, Duke of Cornwall (Ja ...

. According to historian

Sidney Painter Sidney Painter (September 23, 1902 – January 12, 1960) was an American medievalist and historian. He was a fellow of the Mediaeval Academy and professor of history and chairman of the department of history at Johns Hopkins University. Painter ...

, it was one of at least 21 castles demolished on Henry II's instructions. In the 13th century a stone

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

was founded on the site. Antiquarian William Burton noted in the early 17th century that Groby Castle "was utterly ruinated and gone and only the mounts, rampires and trenches were to be seen". A fragment of one wall remains, together with earthworks consisting of a large mound of earth at the rear of the present manor house known as

Groby Old Hall Groby Old Hall is partly a 15th-century brick-built manor house and grade II* listed building located very near the site of Groby Castle in the village of Groby in Leicestershire. History The grand hall which preceded the current building was ...

. Part of the site is occupied by the church of St Philip and St James. In 1962 and 1963 excavations were carried out at Groby Castle in preparation for the construction of the

A50 road A5 and variants may refer to: Science and mathematics * A5 regulatory sequence in biochemistry * A5, the abbreviation for the androgen Androstenediol * Annexin A5, a human cellular protein * ATC code A05 ''Bile and liver therapy'', a subgroup of ...

nearby. The road, which runs past the north-east of the motte, destroyed some of the castle's outworks. In April 2010, archaeological television programme ''

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned online in 2022 for two episodes released on YouTube. Created by television producer Tim ...

'' undertook excavations at the castle. Groby Castle is a

Scheduled Monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

, which means it is a "nationally important" historic building and

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

which has been given protection against unauthorised change.

Fictional Groby

The ancestral seat associated with the protagonist Christopher Tietjens in

Ford Madox Ford Ford Madox Ford (né Joseph Leopold Ford Hermann Madox Hueffer ( ); 17 December 1873 – 26 June 1939) was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals ''The English Review'' and ''The Transatlantic Review'' were instrumental in ...

's novel ''

Parade's End ''Parade's End'' is a tetralogy of novels by the British novelist and poet Ford Madox Ford, written from 1924 to 1928. The novels chronicle the life of a member of the English gentry before, during and after World War I. The setting is mainly ...

'' (published in 1925, and dramatized for television in 2012) is named Groby Hall. The stately home, with an ancient tree growing in the grounds half the height of an even deeper well, is supposedly located in the North Riding of Yorkshire. :''"Tietjens was never going to live at Groby. No more feudal atmosphere!"'' ::excerpted from Part VI of the third novel ''"A Man Could Stand Up"''http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks07/0700191h.html Online text of ''

A Man Could Stand Up A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...

'' the third of four novels at Project Gutenberg Australia

References

;Bibliography * * * (includes a plan on page 23) * * * * * * (includes a plan on page 259)

External links

{{Castles in Leicestershire , state=expanded Castles in Leicestershire Ruins in Leicestershire Scheduled monuments in Leicestershire

History

Fictional Groby

See also

References

External links