1217, the Abbot of Peterborough asks not to be distrained for his castle guards. This is granted, but the knights who hold the abbot’s fees are to do the service. In 1218 Richard Trussell was fined for taking his dogs through the forest. In 1219 to Hugh de Nevil is restored the bailliage of the forest and of Clyve, Gettington, and Brigstoke. The offices being connected with land, the constable is to give seizin. 25th June the king sent his huntsman, Richard de la Hunt, to chase in the forest, and during his stay the sheriff is to provide for him and his two horses, two valets, a swordsman or “sicarius” (bernarius), a whipper-in (veltarius), four greyhounds, and fourteen chiens de meute (canes de mota necessaria). He is also to have salt for salting the venison which he may take, and a carriage to convey it to the king as needed. Occasionally an order is given to allow some great man to take three or four bucks or does, but it is evident the number named are not to be exceeded. 19th July, Walter de Preston is sent to take forty bucks for the king’s larder. In November, William, Earl of Albemarle, in charge of the castles of Rockingham, Sauvey, and Biham, had refused to give them up, on which the sheriffs are warned that he had been excommunicated by the legate, and no person is to aid him in holding the castles. The earl, however, resisted, and this castle was actually besieged and taken by surprise 28th June, 1220 (“Hist. Anglor.,” ii. 242). Henry was here in person, and allowed William de Albini three, and William de Insula two, bucks. William de Preston and Richard de Watervill are also allowed twenty each, probably for the king’s use. A little before this, in May 1220, Isabel, the king’s mother, wrote to inform him that on his account rather than her own she had married the Comte de la March, and requested that her husband might be allowed her dower, which included Rockingham Castle (“Letters of Henry III.,” i. 115). In July the bailliages were returned to Hugh de Nevil, who had a charter from King John, and in November, Fulk de Breauté had one hundred pounds for his expenses during the siege of Rockingham, which he seems to have conducted. Sauvey and Rockingham when taken were found to be utterly bare of provisions, not three loaves of bread being found in the two.
Henry seems at first to have granted his mother’s request, but 2nd September, 1221, Richard de Ripariis had the custody of the whole land which the Comte de la March had held in England of his wife’s dower, and the good men of Rockingham were to answer to Richard for the rent of the vill, as they had done to the earl and his wife.
Other entries relate to the same year. The constable is allowed large timber for the repairs of the king’s houses and the “turris” of Rockingham, and the sheriff is to allow twenty marcs for the same. Also Hugh de Nevile is to take a forest verdurer and good men “de visñeto” [from the neighbourhood; hence “venue” as applied to a jury] of Cottingham and Carlton, and measure the assart which the Abbot of Peterborough had licence from King John to make. If 100 acres or less, the abbot is to be left in peace; if above that area, Hugh is to take possession and report.
16th April, 1222, the men of Rockingham are informed that Queen Isabel and her husband are again allowed the dower lands. In May the Earl of Albemarle had made his peace, and under King John’s charter touching the lands of Hawise, his mother, he is acquitted of relief and other charges for his farm of the manors of Rockingham, Clyffe, and Brigstoke, from the day on which he took charge of the castle to the 18th November, 1219. In this month the king sent ten marcs for the repairs of his houses, and the same for the castle, to be applied as far as it would go.
1223: the abbot is not to be distrained in time of peace for more than four shillings, castle guard, according to the tenor of the charter of Richard I. 13th September, it appears that Alianor, the king’s aunt (grandmother), formerly Queen of England, had the fair of Rockingham as part of her dower, and, she being dead, Isabel and the Comte de la March are to have it, with all the dues. 31st October, the custos has five marcs from the sheriff for the repairs of the gutter of the king’s chamber. 1224: in this year ten casks of wine were sent to Rockingham, and the carriage from Southampton to be paid by the sheriff, and later on ten dolia more. Walter the Miller has an oak for the repair of the bridge; one conveniently situated is to be chosen. In 1225 the sheriff was to take with him proper men, skilled in carpentry and masonry, and see to the repairs of the king’s chamber in the castle, and for this sufficient timber was to be allowed. The Bishop of Ely had an order for ten bucks from an Essex forest, but because they were hard to take he had a similar order on Rockingham, to be used should the first attempt fail. A certain Ivo de Dyen taken in the forest had fined to King John eight marcs and a palfrey for his freedom, and paid it to the constable, for which he now has a quittance. William de Cantilupe has two bucks and two does from the forest to put into his park at Eston. Martin de Patishull has ten bucks. Some timber allowed for the castle is to be selected by the foresters and verdurers, who are to take a receipt (talliam) for it from the sheriff.
In 1226 ten dolia of wine were sent to the castle. In this year Ralph de Trublevill was to have timber from some convenient spot where the forest would not be injured, for the bay of the king’s vivary at stoke and the repair of his houses. The custos has twenty marks from the sheriff for works at the chapel and other parts of the castle. The Sheriff of Beds is also to supply twenty marcs for these works; a load of lead is ordered for the gutters of the roof. 15th August, the constable is to have two bucks in season [in horis]. 24th July, 1227, the constable is to pay over his receipts for the past and present year from Rockingham fair to Thomas de Cyrene, or his bailiff of that vill, and he is to leave them with him in future. William de Cantilupe is allowed to take two bucks in season. In 1230 three casks of wine were sent to the castle from Boston.
After some lapse of time an inquisition of 34 Henry III., 1249–50, states that the castle was left ruinous by Sir Robert Basselewe, the last constable. It mentions the tower, the walls, and their battlements. The chapel was destitute of fittings for divine service.
1250, Geoffrey de Rokingham, who probably held the Weyte fee in capite under the castle, had died, and his executors were allowed administration on giving security for the debts due to the king. 1284–6, the estate was not wound up, and Master Henry Sampson brought before the Barons of the Exchequer the pieces of a tally for £4 levied by the Sheriff of Rutland, which tally was by mischance broken. Sampson seems to have been an executor. 1251, the sheriff is allowed 8s. 2d. for the carriage of the king’s venison from Rockingham to Westminster, and Elias de Hanvill is to take sixty oaks from the king’s woods of Clyve, Brigstoke, and Cottingham for works at the castle.
In 1253–4 Ernald de Bosco, justice of the forests south of Trent, had charge of Rockingham forest between the bridges of Stamford and Oxendon, excepting the castle and its appendages; and he was directed to make “Trencheyns” where it seemed most expedient in the forests of Rockingham and Clyve. Two years later Hugh de Goldingham had the same charge, and four men were imprisoned in the castle for trespass. They paid two marcs to be allowed bail until the advent of the justice in eyre.
1260–1, the king committed to Alan la Zouch the castle and the forest from bridge to bridge, and John de Oxindon and Walter le Butiller were his attorneys to account for the issues of the county and forest to the king.