purpose of converting it into a Bowling-green, yet affords a pleasant station for a view of the environs of Leicester, and is the spot from which the best idea can be formed of the antient form and boundaries of the fortifications.
It is well known that the fast Saxons built few or no castles, for having nearly exterminated the Britons, during the long continued warfare that preceded their conquest of that people, they had no occasion for strong fortresses to secure the possession of the territories they had acquired; and in the later ages of their dynasty they were too indolent and ignorant to undertake such works with spirit and effect, notwithstanding the frequent and sudden inroads of the Danes, rendered such places of retreat highly necessary, and the great Alfred earnestly
recommended their construction. Hence the places of defence found in this island at the conquest, were few in number, and those generally too slight to resist the continued attacks of time. For this reason the antiquary need not endeavour to extend his researches after the state of the castle of Leicester beyond the time of the arrival of William the Norman. On the division of the provinces made by that monarch, Leicester became part of the royal demesne; a castle was erected to ensure the submission of the inhabitants, and the wardenship of it entrusted to Hugh Grentemaisnell baron of Hinckly, who possessed considerable property in the neighbourhood. This castle, like other Norman works of the same kind, would have its barbican or out-work, defending the gate and bridge over the outer
ditch would be commanded by a strong wall, eight or ten feet thick, and between twenty and thirty high, with a parapet, and crennels at the top, towers at proper distances, and a gate-way opening into the town. It would, we may presume, extend from the river below the Newark round by St. Mary’s church, and then, turning towards the river again, whose waters were brought by a cut across the morass lying on the west side, to wash that part of the wall, and fill the ditch, would thus enclose what was called the outer Bayle or Ballium. Within this, at a distance not now to be ascertained, but probably not less than eighty or an hundred yards, another, similar, but perhaps stronger fortification, would extend from, and to the river, and this entered at the
gates already described, would enclose the inner Bayle, where stood the lofty massy keep, the hall, and all the apartments and rooms belonging to the noble and potent owners. Although the curious will be inclined to join in the pathetic laments of the writer of the memoirs of Leicester, (Throsby) that the just position of the castle and its extent in former times cannot be known; yet strong probability will almost authorize us to believe that the account here given does not vary very widely from the truth; for these conjectures are directly confirmed by the well still open on the top of the castle hill or keep, and by the entire remains of a large cellar, forty-nine feet long and eighteen wide, nearly adjoining the great hall, on the west. That more traces should not be discoverable will not appear
surprising when we consider what effects may be produced by the decays of time and accident, by the accumulation of soil, and encroachments of buildings.
During the disputes concerning the succession, on the death of the Conqueror, the Grentemaisnells seized Leicester castle, and held it for duke Robert. This subjected it to the fury of the successful partizans of William Rufus, and the castle lay for some time in a dismantled state. In the next reign it was granted by Henry to his favourite Robert first earl of Leicester, who repaired the damages and it became the principal place of residence of himself and the second earl, Robert Bossu. The third earl Robert surnamed Blanchmains, encreased his property and power, by
his marriage with Petronilla, or Parnel, the heiress of the Grentemaisnells, but the violent temper of this earl involved him in disputes with king Henry the second, whose forces under the command of the Chief Justiciary, Richard de Lucy, took Leicester and its castle by assault, and reduced both to an almost uninhabited heap of ruins. Blanchmains regained however the favor of his king and was restored to his estates, but both he and his son, Robert Fitz-Parnel engaging in the crusades, the town of Leicester was but ill rebuilt, and the castle remained in a state of delapidation for many years. Fitz-Parnel dying without issue, the honor of Leicester, as part of the Bellomont estates were called, passed into the family of Simon de Montfort, in consequence of his marriage with one of the sisters
of Fitz-Parnels. But the Montfort earls of Leicester, both father and son, were too much engaged in the busy transactions of their times to pay much attention to their property at Leicester. After the death of the latter, in the Battle of Evesham, the Leicester property was conferred by Henry the third on his second son Edmond earl of Lancaster, whose second son Henry, heir and successor to Thomas earl of Lancaster, beheaded at Pontefract, in the year 1322 made Leicester his principal place of residence, and under him and the two next succeeding earls, the castle recovered and probably surpassed its former state of splendor.
When the dukes of Lancaster ascended the throne, Leicester tho’ frequently honored with their presence, received no permanent benefit, and tho’ several