FILLONGLEY CASTLE, CO. WARWICK.

THE CASTLE YARD.

THE scanty remains of this, the seat of the family of Hastings before they rose to their earldom of Pembroke, and now known as Castle Yard, are placed about a quarter of a mile south of Fillongley Church upon a small triangle of land formed by the beds and junction of two brooks which flow down from the south and the south-east to meet and form the point of the triangle to the north.

In the space thus protected towards the north, west, and east, was constructed a rudely oval shell of masonry about 50 feet east and west by 80 feet north and south, traces of which are seen in five masses of stone rubble-work, of which four are overthrown and a fifth remains in its proper place. A light ridge connects these detached masses, and indicates the line of the curtain of which they formed a part. The fragment standing in its place seems to have been connected with a curved recess, or, perhaps, a well-stair, but the others have been overthrown by gunpowder. The whole was on a small scale, and there are no visible traces of towers or gatehouse. The earth and rubbish heaped up in the interior of the area may cover foundations, and, no doubt, a light excavation here would disclose the plan of the whole structure and the place of the entrance, which, probably, was towards the east.

Outside the walled area the ground falls slightly, and there are traces at about 30 yards’ distance, towards the south, of a ditch and internal bank protecting this, by nature, the weakest side. The valley towards the east is occupied by one of the brooks which flows a few feet only from and below the wall. There is no trace of any second or outer circle of masonry, so that probably the castle was composed of a single ring wall, possibly set with turrets, but if so, of no great size.

The whole castle must have been a very inconsiderable place, though from the steepness of the little valleys between which it stands, and the marshy character of the ground watered by the brooks, it evidently possessed much passive strength, and if garrisoned by determined men, could have held out for some time.

Fillongley is unnoticed in any record older than the Conqueror’s Survey. We learn from Domesday that “Filungelei” contained two hides of land, of which one half-hide belonged to the Bishop of Coutances, and was held by Lewin; a second by the monks of Coventry; a third by a certain Alsi, who held it from before the Conquest; and a fourth by Robert le Despenser, which, though of less value, contained the church. Alsi may have resided upon the Castle hill. The half-hide held by the monks is identified with Old Fillongley, on the western side of the parish, and was held of them in the reign of Henry III. by Gerard de Alspath, whose name is preserved in Alspath Hall, in the south-west quarter of the parish. He held it as a fourth part of a knight’s fee. A part of this holding passed in some way from the ownership of the monks, who, in the time of Edward III., held in it one-eighth of a fee of Lord Hastings. Part of Le Despenser’s share passed to the Marmions, and thence, it would seem, to the Earls of Leicester, one of whom probably enfeoffed of it either Walter or Hugh de Hastings, one of the earlier members of that family, who long continued to hold it of the Marmions and Le Despensers. Thus the family of Hastings were of Fillongley in the reign of Henry I., and it speedily became their chief residence in Warwickshire, and the nucleus of a considerable estate. John de Hastings, 29 Edward I., had a license to crenellate “manerium suum et villam de ... Filungeleye,” though the castle is probably considerably older. With the church was the advowson which, in the reign of Edward III., Lawrence Hastings, Earl of Pembroke, sold to Clinton, Earl of Huntingdon. Fillongley, though it appears in the inquisitions of the Hastings family, is not mentioned as a castle, being, in fact, too inconsiderable to be claimed by the Crown, and so entered upon the public records, but it seems to have remained the chief, if not the only, residence of the family, until Henry de Hastings, in the reign of Henry III., married Joan de Cantelupe, who became a very great heiress, so that John, their son, the recipient of the above license, inheriting the castle of Abergavenny, resided there, as did occasionally his descendants. On the death of the last Hastings, Earl of Pembroke, Fillongley passed with much of his property to the Beauchamps, and so to the Nevilles, who held it when Dugdale wrote his very valuable history.

FILLONGLEY CASTLE.

Wyman & Sons, Gᵗ. Queen Sᵗ. London.

FONMON CASTLE
GROUND PLAN

  1. North tower
  2. Dungeon tower
  3. Southern tower

Fillongley Church contains no monuments of the Hastings family, who buried at Polesworth and with the Grey Friars at Coventry.