Relhan Collection : 69 Cambridge. The Gate of the Castle

Relhan, Richard, 1782-1844

Relhan Collection

1819Etching by JS CotmanCambridge Castle was built by William the Conqueror in 1068, part of his strategy to fortify county towns with Norman forces, enacted in E England as he marched back from York. It consisted of the standard earth mound surmounted by a wooden keep (an excellent viewpoint and defendable point for any final retreat), with a water-filled moat and a more lightly defended bailey for soldiers etc to camp, to E. Apart from a military defence the Castle functioned as a centre of administration and justice for Cambs, and theoretically as a residence for royalty (but royals preferred the comfort and hospitality of Barnwell Priory (14)). It lay in the parish of Chesterton, outside Cambridge’s jurisdiction, and remained in royal hands until 1928 when it was purchased by Cambridgeshire County Council as the site for Shire Hall. It was royal policy to keep all land around surrounding castles free of other buildings in case of defensive needs, which led to later neglect as seen in Relhan’s drawings. Major changes came 1283-1299 when Edward I rebuilt his castle in stone, relics of which are shown in this Collection. In C16, stone was sold or given away by Mary I and Elizabeth I for building or repairing colleges and churches, as it had lost its military function. However, in C17 it was refortified in a quite different style by Oliver Cromwell, with cannons mounted on the mound and on bastions at the corners of site. It housed 2000 soldiers but in the end was not used in any military action. After the Civil War the Castle reverted to its administrative and judicial functions, of which the prison (and executions) in a succession of buildings were significant until 1915. Seen here is the last of the Castle gates, the only stonework surviving by C19, and it too was in a dangerous condition and was demolished 1842. This view gives a good representation of how derelict the area in and around the Castle had become. A survey in 1606 already states‘there remaineth the gatehouse used as a common gaol and dwelling of the gaoler. All the rest of the walls of the Castle and their foundations are razed and utterly ruinated saving a parcel of land on the NW side....’ and also ‘the site of the Castle, with yards, trenches, ditches, hills, some being pasture ground and some ruined with the rubbage and ruins of the Castle, containeth by estimation about 5 acres, and are worth, excepting Shire House, Jury House and gatehouse, £6 8s and 4d.’ The drop in land in front of the gatehouse shown here is the ditch of the medieval and Cromwellian castle. The building on the right is Goode’s cottage, in the Castle bank and the subject of law suits and complaints between Cambridge and Chesterton. In 2020 the view from the W shows a grass bank where the gatehouse had stood and, from the right, Shire Hall, Registry Office etc, all of which have recently (2020) been sold and the site will be re-developed. Palmer 1928; Taylor 1999