Castle of Croydone

Has been described as a Rejected Timber Castle (Other/Unknown)

There are no visible remains

NameCastle of Croydone
Alternative NamesCastle of Croydon
Historic CountryGloucestershire
Modern AuthorityGloucestershire
1974 AuthorityGloucestershire
Civil ParishGloucester

Medieval castle is said to have been situated near the south end of Hare Lane, Gloucester. (PastScape)

(SO 833188) 'Castel of Croydone', near the south end of Hare Lane. Reason for name is not known (Fullbrook Leggatt).

This may be confused with the original Norman timber and earthwork castle situated a little to the East of the later castle (Heighway). (PastScape)

Archdeacon Furney says, from the Abbey Registers or Chronicles, as presumed, "Without the Upper North-gate, on the West side, was the Castle of Croydon, standing in Hare-lane." (Apud Rudder p. 205) Dun assuredly means an elevated Tump ; and Croy, according to Ingulphus, in his etymology of Croy-Iand, signifies Cruda et caenosa terra, moist, stiff ground. The misfortune is, that there is neither tump, mound, or foss, upon the spot, only the plot of a building; but it might be deemed eligible to fill up the ditches, that water and weeds might not collect: or the earth of the tump might be carried off in the civil wars to form the works between Kingsholm and the Oxlease, marked out in Hall and Pinnel's map. (Fosbroke and Bigland 1819)

Gatehouse Comments

Baddeley suggests this was the site of a C9 Danish camp and that Hare Lane is a corruption of Here (War Host). It's entirely possibly this camp was fortified in the Danish manner and that these earthwork survived until the C14 when the name Castle of Croydone was, apparently, given to them. It is unlikely they had any use after the C9. The VCH for Gloucester has a good history of the Saxon period but does not mention this site. The earlier history of Fosbroke and Bigland is speculative and has inaccuracies but does mention this as a site of a building. The location, just outside the gates of the Roman town, may be that of a Roman mausoleum and the site may, in fact, take it's name from some Roman remains. Confusion with the actual castle of Gloucester by any early writers, who give a clear location as outside the north-gate, seems unlikely.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceSO833188
Latitude51.8674201965332
Longitude-2.24434995651245
Eastings383300
Northings218800
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

No photos available. If you can provide pictures please contact Castlefacts

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.

Calculate Print

Books

  • Herbert, N.M. (ed), 1988, 'Anglo-Saxon Gloucester: c.680 - 1066' VCH Gloucestershire Vol. 4 (Oxford: OUP for the Institute of Historical Research) p. 5-12 online transcription
  • Heighway, Carolyn, 1985, Gloucester: a history and guide p. 48
  • Fullbrook Leggatt, L.E.W.O., 1952, Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Gloucester
  • Fosbroke, T.D., and Bigland, R., 1819, An original history of the city of Gloucester p. 25 online copy
  • Rudder, S., 1779, A new history of Gloucestershire p. 205 online copy (large file)

Journals

  • Baddeley, St Clair, 1917, 'Some early Artists of Gloucester' Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Vol. 40 p. 149 online copy