Rotherfield Greys Castle, initially known as Retherfield Castle, is a 14th-century fortified manor house built in

Rotherfield Greys Rotherfield Greys is a village and civil parish in the Chiltern Hills in South Oxfordshire. It is west of Henley-on-Thames and just over east of Rotherfield Peppard (locally known as Peppard). It is linked by a near-straight minor road to ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

. Only the ruins of a single tower and a section of curtain wall survives, of which is associated with

Greys Court Greys Court is a Tudor country house and gardens in the southern Chiltern Hills at Rotherfield Greys, near Henley-on-Thames in the county of Oxfordshire, England. Now owned by the National Trust, it is located at , and is open to the public. ...

, a Tudor

country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...

. The castle is owned by the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

History

The earliest mention of a manor at Rotherfield Greys, then known as ''Retherfield'', was in 1283 during the reign of

King Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 1254 ...

. The current castle at Rotherfield Greys, which was probably not built for defensive purposes, replaced this manor and it was built ''circa'' 1347 after being crenelated by Johannes de Grey de Retherfeld on 10 December 1346. The east front, which was destroyed during the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

, was extended around 1600 by William Knollys and the castle was slighted during the

; it has been in ruins since . It is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, along with the rest of Greys Court. Of the surviving ruins, one tower is set obliquely at the north angle, the other tower is in the middle of the north eastern side and the third tower is octagonal and its south eastern corner has been incorporated into part of a

cottage A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager had to provide ...

that likely dates to the early 17th century.Jones, B. (ed), (2004), ''Greys Court: Historic Building Report (London: English Heritage)''

References

{{reflist Castles in Oxfordshire Grade I listed buildings in Oxfordshire