Conservation Management Plan - Tamworth Borough Council

However, on the accession of Edward I in 1272 his royal service came to end and he received his final annual fee.
Following on from this King Edward pursued him for his debts and stopped providing gifts of deer after 1280.
He founded and endowed a chantry chapel in 1274, north of Tamworth on the Ashby road, and dedicated it to St
James. When the Black Death came to the town in 1349 the chapel was converted to a hospital and became known
as the Hospital of St James or Spital chapel.
In 1290 Roger de Conyngesby and John de Coyly were nominated to act on his behalf ‘on account of his debility’ and
he died in 1291. He owned extensive properties in nine counties as well as Tamworth Castle with its three mills and a
fishery. He was the last of the male line of the Marmions.
His estate was divided between his three surviving daughters and Tamworth Castle passed to Joan de Mortain.
When she died it passed to her niece, also called Joan, who was wife of Alexander Frevile.
Frevile 1291-1423
Sir Alexander Frevile and his wife Joan assigned the castle to their son Baldwin in 1323, on condition that they
were allowed to live in it for the rest of their lives. Alexander was the last Lord of Tamworth Castle to hold the
office of Royal Champion, he performed at the Coronation of Edward III in 1327. His son Sir Baldwin Frevile I held
the Warwickshire part of Tamworth by grant from Edward II, from 1317 to 1319 when the king granted it to the
burgesses. Baldwin Frevile II quarrelled with the burgesses in 1348, who besieged him and his castle and cut off
all food supplies for some time (Wood 19:90) He fought in wars with France, where he died having spent his later
years there. Baldwin III lost his claim to act as Royal Champion at the coronation of Richard II in 1377. The right was
attached to the manor of Scrivelsby in Lincolnshire, an estate which descended through the Marmion family. Sir
Baldwin V died while still a minor in 1418. The estate was divided in 1423 and the castle passed to his sister, Elizabeth
who was married to Thomas Ferrers.
Ferrers 1423-1688
Thomas Ferrers made Tamworth his principal seat, and the castle remained in the Ferrers family until the third
quarter of the 17 th century. He built the new Great Hall around 1437-40,replacing an earlier Great Hall. His son, also
called Thomas succeeded him in 1458, but pre-deceased him and was buried in St Editha’s church. In 1498 sir John
Ferrers, grandson of the original Sir Thomas, inherited the castle and was appointed High Steward of Tamworth. He
too is buried in St Editha’s.
In 1512 Sir Humphrey Ferrers I, son of Sir John, inherited the castle and the role of High Steward. During his
stewardship Leland visited Tamworth and noted that ‘ the base court and great ward of the castle is cleane decayed,
and the wall fallen down, and therein be now but houses of office, of noe notable building’ referring to the bailey.
He described the motte and buildings within the Shell Keep: ‘the Dungeon Hill yet standeth, and a great round
tower of stone wherein Mr Ferrers dwelleth, and now repaireth it’. Sir Humphrey spent the later years of his life at his
manor of Walton-on Trent. He was succeeded by his Son John II in 1554.
In 1557 John’s son, Humphrey Ferrers II succeeded to the seat and role of High Steward, until the Earl of Essex was
appointed to that office by the charter of 1588. He married Ann Bardbourne of Lea in 1562. His son John III was MP
for Tamworth in 1586, 1592, 1603 and 1615. Humphrey II lived alternately at Tamworth and Walton on Trent.
John’s son Humphrey Ferrers III, was born in 1600 and died in 1633 the same year as his father. There is uncertainty
about which members of the Ferrers family lived at Tamworth and/or Walton at this time. Wood states that Sir John
III entertained King James I at the castle which he repaired and altered, although he spent much of his life at Walton
on Trent (Wood 1972:92). Palmer believed that Humphrey lived at Tamworth while his father lived at Walton, but
both had a strong interest in the castle. King James was entertained at the castle in 1619, 1621 and 1624.
There is also a possibility that tenants were in residence at this time, which would add to the already complicated
need for accommodation and service rooms for two generations of the same family and of sufficient quality to host
visits by the king. John Ferrers IV, was only a minor when his father died and was placed under the guardianship of
Lady Ann Ferrers until he came of age in 1650. In 1642 the castle was occupied by Royalists in the Civil War, but it
surrendered to Cromwell’s forces in the following year. In 1680 Ann Ferrers , John’s granddaughter succeeded to the
castle as her father had been accidentally drowned in the Trent in 1678. In 1688, she married Robert Shirley and he
inherited the castle.
Tamworth Castle Conservation Management Plan www.marionblockley.co.uk
Part 1
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