Edward I. became possessed, in due course, of Guildford, and in 27 Edward I., 1299, the park, castle, and farm of the town were assigned as part of the dower of Margaret, the king’s second wife, and on her death, 10 Edward II., they reverted to the Crown. Edward was here, 20th January, 31 Edward I., 1303, resting on his way from Odiham to Windsor.
In 35 Edward I., 1306, Henry de Say, keeper of the prisoners indicted at the Sussex Assizes, and lodged in Guildford Castle, petitioned that an officer might be sent to receive their fines and chattels, according to their offences, and that a stronger prison may be provided, the castle being insecure for so many prisoners. The answer, recorded on the rolls of Parliament, is terse:—“Si carcer sit nimis debilis, faciat, Custos, emendari; si nimis strictus, faciat elargari; quia Rex non est avisatus mutare locum prisonarum suarum: vel saltem teneat eos in vinculis fortioribus.” “Double iron the prisoners” was at one time a usual, and certainly an economical, way of securing their safety. It is probable that it was under these circumstances of great pressure that the mural oratory in the keep was employed as a prison.
In the king’s circular to the sheriff, 1 Edward II., 1307, 15th December, which was followed by the edict confiscating the goods of the Templars, the sheriff of Surrey and Sussex was ordered to repair to Guildford. In 15 Edward II., Oliver de Burdegala, governor, had a writ of privy seal directing the castle to be victualled and garrisoned.
Guildford, 2 Edward III., 1328, was the head-quarters of the sheriff of Surrey, who was ordered to go there to prevent tournaments from being held. On the 8th March, 1329, the king was at Guildford; also 28th February and 26th December, 1330; 18th–20th November, 1331; 2nd September, 1334; and 18th–24th April, 1336; so that the castle was in not infrequent use as a royal residence. In this last year the king granted the town in fee farm to the corporation, reserving only the park and castle. On the 23rd April, 1337, 11 Edward III., the king ordered that Robert d’Artoys should have a right to be hospitably received should he visit the royal castles of Guildford, Wallingford, or Somerton, and he might sport in the park at Guildford.
In the same year, 24th December, Edward was himself at Guildford, as he was in 1340, and again 27th–28th December, 1347, in which year the commonalty of Sussex petitioned that Chichester in place of Guildford might be the county gaol. The petition was set aside, and in 41 Edward III. the sheriff still held his official residence in the castle, which was the prison, as before, for the two counties. 42 Edward III., 1368, 28th July, the king was here. 43 Edward III., the custody of the castle and park was given to Helmyng Legatte for life. Edward was again here, 45 Edward III., 1371, on the 12th of May, probably for the last time.
In 1 Richard II. Sir Simon Burley was constable of the castle, and afterwards Sir Hugh Waterton, on whose death, 10 Henry IV., Sir John Stanley had the office also for life, and his appointment was confirmed by Henry V. By that time the custody of the park was evidently an office more coveted than that of the castle.
What occurred in the castle during the wars of York and Lancaster is not known, save that it was the scene of no event of importance, and it certainly continued still to play the ignoble part of a common prison, for in 3 Henry VII., 1487, the old complaint is revived, and the county of Sussex again petitions for a gaol of its own, and under its own sheriff, suggesting Lewes as a proper place. This time the prayer was granted, and probably the Surrey prisoners either then or soon afterwards were bestowed elsewhere, though the two counties continued long after this to be placed under one sheriff. As late as 1620 a Sussex gentleman, Nicholas Eversfield, was sheriff of the two counties, and the jurisdiction does not appear to have been finally divided till 1637.
Finally, in 1611–12, after having been attached to the Crown at least from the days of Alfred, or 700 years, the castle and its enceinte were granted by James I. to Francis Carter, of Guildford, who died in 1617, and whose son, John Carter, is described as dwelling in the castle in 1623. His eldest son Francis died in 1668, leaving a daughter only, and it is his brother, the second son, John Carter, whose initials, “J. C., 1699,” stand upon a tablet within and above the great gateway in Quarry Street. The castle has since remained in private hands, and is now the property of Lord Grantley.
The above extracts, mainly taken from those given by Mr. Parker in his valuable volumes on Domestic Architecture in the Middle Ages, will have shown that the fittings and adornments of the castle were chiefly due to Henry III. That prince, who was a great patron of the arts, and especially of architecture and painting, paid great attention to the royal residences. Unfortunately, his decorations were for the most part confined to the hall and principal domestic apartments, but few of which anywhere have survived. At Guildford, the destruction has been peculiarly sweeping, and the only remaining structure, the keep, does not seem to have participated in the royal care. The keeps of Norman castles, inhabited but rarely, and only during a siege, even by those who built them, seem very soon to have been altogether deserted for more convenient lodgings in the lower and more spacious wards. The keep was then used as a storehouse or barrack, or, as at Guildford, as a prison, and very little was spent upon its repairs, and nothing upon its decoration. It is, however, in consequence of this neglect, that the Norman keeps, where they have not been pulled down, remain pretty much as they were originally built, or with only such additions as may easily be detected, or such diminutions as may readily be supplied. This is particularly the case with the keep at Guildford, the additions to, or alterations in, which are of the rudest character, and may readily be detected, while of the masonry of the original structure little is wanting save the parapets and angle turrets and some details connected with the approach and entrance.
Guildford Castle occupied a natural platform of nearly six acres upon the slope of the chalk hill, far below its summit, and from 40 to 80 feet above the river. The platform, inclining gently towards the stream, terminates at about 80 yards from its bank in a low cliff of from 10 to 12 feet high, in parts replaced by, and in parts resting upon, a steep, natural slope or talus, which dies away 40 feet lower down into the meads traversed by the river. The crest of this cliff or talus is occupied by Quarry Street, and forms the west front of the castle. Towards the north, the river is more distant, and the slope of the platform far more gradual. On this side, the High Street and the present town of Guildford intervene between the castle and the river.