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Donnington Castle
From Private Home to Royal Sanctuary


Donnington Castle Gatehouse - © Nash Ford Publishing

 

  • Donnington Castle was built by Sir Richard Abberbury in 1386. It was just a manor before. He had to get special permission from King Richard II to 'crenellate' it.

  • This was easy because he had been friends with the King's father and was the King's guardian when he was a boy.

  • Sir Richard made lots of money in the French Wars and as an ambassador. With this money, he set up the Donnington Hospital just before he died.

  • Thomas Chaucer later owned the castle. He was son of the famous poet, Geoffrey. He sometimes stayed there, but mostly lived at Ewelme (in Oxfordshire), near Wallingford.

  • Thomas gave Donnington to his only daughter, Alice, as a wedding present when she married Sir John Philip in 1415. They didn't live there long as Sir John died in the French Wars in the same year.

  • In Tudor times, Queen Elizabeth I gave the castle to two people at once: Lady Hoby & the Earl of Nottingham. Lady Hoby took lots of armed men to Donnington and had a big fight with the Earl at the castle gates.

  • During the English Civil War, King Charles I's soldiers locked themselves up in the Castle. They were besieged by Parliament's soldiers after the 2nd Battle of Newbury.

 

    © Nash Ford Publishing 2004. All Rights Reserved.