Stockport Castle was a

promontory A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the s ...

castle in

Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

(historically in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

), England. The castle was in the medieval town, overlooking a ford over the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is a major river in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it h ...

. It was first documented in 1173, but the next mention of it is in 1535 when it was in ruins. What remained of the castle was demolished in 1775.

Location

Stockport Castle was an urban castle in the town of Stockport. The medieval town was on the south side of a valley at the confluence of the rivers Goyt and Tame, where they form the

. The site of the castle is a sandstone spur, overlooking a ford (). The castle was flanked by cliffs or steep slopes on its north, south, and west sides.

History

The first mention of Stockport Castle comes from 1173, when Geoffrey de Costentyn held it against

Henry II Henry II may refer to: Kings * Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (972–1024), crowned King of Germany in 1002, of Italy in 1004 and Emperor in 1014 *Henry II of England (1133–89), reigned from 1154 *Henry II of Jerusalem and Cyprus (1271–1 ...

during the barons' rebellion of 1173–1174. There is a local tradition that de Constentyn was the son of Henry II,

Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany Geoffrey II (; , ; 23 September 1158 – 19 August 1186) was Duke of Brittany and Earl of Richmond between 1181 and 1186, through his marriage to Constance, Duchess of Brittany. Geoffrey was the fourth of five sons of Henry II of England and ...

; in fact, de Constentyn was a local lord who not only owned the manor of Stockport, but land in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The bailey would originally have been defended by a wooden

palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a row of closely placed, high vertical standing tree trunks or wooden or iron stakes used as a fence for enclosure or as a defensive wall. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymo ...

and earthworks; these were replaced by stone walls at the beginning of the 13th century. Two fragments of the wall survive. Dent suggests that the castle began to decline in the 14th century when the Warren family became

Lords of the Manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...

of Stockport; Stockport was not the only manor that the family owned, and they favoured the manor of Poynton over that of Stockport. The castle falling out of use mirrors a trend with the other castles in the

area; by the 13th century, apart from Dunham Castle, there was no indication of activity in castles in Greater Manchester. According to

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artefacts, archaeological and historic si ...

John Leland, the castle lay in ruins by 1535. At this stage, the

gaol A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are imprisoned under the authority of the state, usually as punishment for various cri ...

was still present and a market was held in the castle's bailey. The castle grounds had been divided and rented out by the Lord of the Manor. The ruins were levelled in 1775 by Sir George Warren, the lord of the manor, and a cotton mill built on the site. In 1974, excavations of the motte were carried out to establish how long the castle had been occupied.

Layout

A motte-and-bailey castle was a common type of fortification in medieval England. It consisted of a usually artificial mound surmounted by a tower or

keep A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residen ...

, with a large defended enclosed area next to the mound and was usually used for storage and barracks. Stockport Castle's motte was where Castle Yard is today, although it was previously called Castle Hill, influencing the name of the area. The bailey was situated south-east of the motte. The castle was probably similar in size and shape to castles such as Launceston in

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

and

Pontefract Pontefract is a historic market town in the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district in West Yorkshire, England. It lies to the east of Wakefield and south of Castleford. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is one of the ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

. The keep surmounting the motte was irregularly shaped, and according to plans drawn in 1775 by the Reverend John Watson, a local antiquarian, measured . No trace of the keep remains from the levelling of the area in 1775 and 1853.

References

Bibliography * * * * {{refend Castles in Cheshire Buildings and structures in Stockport Buildings and structures demolished in 1775

Location

History

Layout

See also

References