Eccleshall Castle

In 1200 Bishop Geoffrey de Muschamp was granted by King John a ‘licence to crenellate’ a castle.

[2] At the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses, Margaret of Anjou, Queen consort of Henry VI, took refuge within the castle after the Battle of Blore Heath in 1459.

Their guns caused considerable damage to the walls but the castle held out, with Bishop Robert Wright sheltering within.

When the Parliamentary forces finally took the castle on August 30 they found that the bishop had died of a heart attack during the siege and most of the defenders were either drunk or had gone into town drinking in the taverns.

The castle was slighted to prevent future use as a stronghold but enough of the building, including an unusual nine-sided tower, together with the moat walls and medieval bridge, remained to be used as a prison for Royalist gentry.