THE RISE AND FALL OF WILLIAM, LORD HASTINGS AND HIS CASTLE OF KIRBY MUXLOE

Kirby Muxloe Castle at sunset.  Unfinished – the builders laid their tools down on hearing about the execution of William, Lord Hastings.   Photo with thanks to crazyaboutcastles.com

Kirby Muxloe Castle lies in a ruinous state in the Leicestershire countryside, the unfinished project of William, Lord Hastings.  Hastings was the epitome of a successful and powerful  15th century lord but as with other nobles of those turbulent times, success run cheek by jowl with downfall, dishonour, betrayal and death.  Hastings’ interesting life is well documented elsewhere and I want to concentrate more upon Kirby Muxloe Castle.  However to tell the story of the castle it’s necessary for a brief summary of Hastings’  life to be told too.

Hastings (c.1430-1483) had been raised within a loyal Yorkist family, his father, Sir Leonard Hastings (d.1455), having been a retainer of Richard, duke of York.  He first begun his rapid ascendancy to power and fortune after the Battle of Towton 29 March 1461 where he was knighted on the field.  Soon after as a mark of the closeness between him and Edward VI he was made Chamberlain of the royal household and in 1462 he was further rewarded with the granting of ‘full power to receive persons into the king’s grace at his discretion‘.  Grants and lands removed from defeated and disenfranchised Lancastrians enabling him to support  his new status were swiftly bestowed upon him.

Stall plate of William Hastings, St Georges Chapel Windsor.Geoffrey Wheeler

Manticore badge of William Hastings c.1470

He seems to have been blessed with the trait of being able to run with the hounds and play with the foxes as he managed to stay on friendly terms with his brother-in-law,  the great Richard Neville,  Earl of Warwick,  known later as the Kingmaker, after Warwick become disenchanted with Edward IV.  Rosemary Horrox suggests that Warwick  may have seen Hastings as ‘the acceptable face of Edward’s court circle, but it is certainly not evidence that Hastings had supported the earl’ (1).  Indeed when Edward went into exile in the Low Countries Hastings accompanied him, thus strengthening even more the bond between them.  Hastings extraordinary power and privilege stemmed from this closeness to the king and was known and commented upon at the time,  a servant of the Pastons observing ‘what my seyd lord Chamberleyn may do wyth the Kyng and wyth all the lordys of Inglond I trowe it be not unknowyn to yow, most of eny on man alyve’ (2).

No doubt this would have led to clashes and tensions between Hastings and the Queen, Elizabeth Wydeville, as well as her delightful family despite her elder son, Thomas Grey, Marquess of Dorset,  being married to Hastings step-daughter, Cicely Bonville.    Edward would later, on his deathbed and aware death was fast approaching, plead with his bosom pal Hastings and his stepson, Grey,  to put their differences behind them and work together for the benefit of Edward’s young son Edward jnr who was on the cusp of becoming the next king albeit still underaged and vulnerable.  Edward died comparatively young aged 42,  his death appearing to come out of the blue for some and the cause of which is still a mystery.   Mancini reported that it was Hastings, no doubt alarmed at the appalling thought of his enemies, the upstart and voracious Wydevilles getting it all,  who sent a message to Edward’s brother, Richard Duke of Gloucester, warning him of  the Wydeville plots.  Hastings seems to have got on well with Gloucester, as he had with Warwick.  Gloucester,  having been warned,  took control of the situation and with a minimum of bloodshed took  up his role of Lord Protector as set out in the late king’s will.   Croyland Chronicler reports Hastings ‘as bursting with joy over this new world‘ (3)   The rest is history, and  the mystery of why Richard,  known for his fairness, had Hastings removed from a council meeting at the Tower of London and beheaded on the 13th June 1483 can only be speculated upon.  After his death Richard dealt kindly with his widow, Katherine Hastings nee Neville,  granting  permission for her husband to be buried close to his late friend and king in St Georges Chapel, Windsor,  as requested in Edward’s will and allowing her to keep her husband’s lands and  which leads me to Kirby Muxloe….

The Western Tower with the Gate House to the left,  With thanks to Bobrad @flikr for photo.

On the 17th April 1474 Edward IV had granted Hastings, by then a very wealthy man,   licence  to fortify with walls and battlements  four of his properties plus enclose large areas of land to create hunting parks around them, one of these properties  being Kirby Muxloe (4) There was already an earlier medieval manor house there but I have been unable to ascertain what condition it was in when building  of the castle commenced.  It’s most likely that whatever the condition the intention would have been to demolish it at some stage as completion of the castle neared its end.  Indeed its known that some repair work was carried out on the old house while building of the new castle was taking place.   The foundations of this old house can still be seen today.  It’s an indication of Hastings fabulous wealth that he had not completed Ashby de la Zouch Castle, intended to be his main seat, before work commenced on Kirby Muxloe in 1480.  The plans were for a rectangle courtyard surrounded by a moat  with a tower at each of the four  corners.   The gatehouse and one tower were nearing completion when news reached the builders of Hastings execution.    This must have thrown the workmen and craftsmen into disarray and it’s said that some of their number downed tools at that stage although Hasting’s widow  Katherine doggedly continued the work on a much smaller scale until finally giving up altogether the following summer.

Hastings had employed master mason John Cowper who trained as an apprentice in the building of Eton College.  It is from Eton that Cowper would have come across the  method of bricklaying known as ‘diaper work’ – patterns made from dark bricks built into lighter brickwork – and used it in the design of the walls at Kirby Muxloe.  The initials WH (although not the initials of his wife – really Sir William!) the maunce, or  sleeve,  from his coat of arms, a ship and a jug are among designs incorporated into the diaper work.   Cowper was  also familiar with Tattershall Castle and may have based the gate house at Kirby on Tattershall’s great tower.  All that now remains of what would have been a massive gatehouse is its base.  The remains of a wooden bridge that led to the gatehouse and drawbridge were discovered in 1911 and are now preserved in the  moat.   On entering through the gate  two rooms are to be found, both with fireplaces, one of them likely intended as a porters lodge.     Two spiral staircases, both made of brick lead to the first floor with rooms containing  fireplaces, latrines and windows.  The floors above were never completed.

Example of the diaper work at Kirby Muxloe.  

Six towers were intended, four at each corner and two midway in the perimeter walls.  The surviving foundations of these towers can still be seen.  The West Tower is the only complete tower to survive, square in shape and comprising of three floors, a spiral staircase and latrines.

Luckily the building accounts for the castle have  survived.  They were written in a mixture of Latin, French and English by Hastings’ steward Roger Bowlett.  So we know that a Flemish man called Antony Yzebrond in charge of the manufacturing of the huge amounts of bricks required was paid 10d a week, a man called John Powell was paid for redirecting a brook to feed the moat, another man, Hugh Geffrey, was employed building a cart track for the carriage of stone and John Peyntour was sent to gather crab apple trees to be used as grafting stock.  Whether these gentlemen were present when the shocking news arrived of the demise of their master we will disappointingly never know.    After Katherine gave up her valiant attempt to complete the building work, Kirby Muxloe was abandoned the following year, used as farm buildings for a  while before being finally given up to the elements.

Gatehouse with replacement wooden bridge…

It is interesting to compare the metaphoric rise and sudden cataclysmic fall of Hastings to that of the subsequent fate of Kirby Muxloe.    Perhaps unsurprisingly it’s still unclear as to what exactly led to the execution of Hastings.   Did he betray Richard?  If so who in turn betrayed him?   Catesby perhaps?  Was he perhaps bitter that he was not given the awards he had hoped for by Richard –  an entirely different kettle of fish to his brother Edward –  as he observed instead of his own, the rise and rise of the astonishingly inadequate Buckingham?  Or was it that Richard blamed him for keeping the precontract between Edward and Eleanor Butler nee Talbot a secret from him – a secret that was the catalyst for the fall of the House of York.   Nevertheless it’s sad to reflect that if Hastings had but   survived those initial tricky days his presence at Bosworth alongside Richard III may well have led to a completely different outcome.

William Hastings, first Baron Hastings signature..

Intriguing doorway in the gatehouse leading to what was possibly intended to be a porters lodge.

I give a massive thank you to John Goodall and his most informative Guidebook on Ashby de laZouch and Kirby Muxloe.  Also to Rosemary Horrox for her article Hastings, William, first Baron Hastings to be found on the Oxford DNB.

1. Hastings, William, first Baron Hastings Rosemary Horrox Oxford DNB
2. Paston Letters 1.581
3. Croyland Chronicle Continuations
4. License to crenellate: ‘Although never mandated by the monarchy nor a common practice until after 1200, applying for a license to erect a castle or to fortify a standing residence indicated not only that the applicant had the self-confidence to approach the king, but also demonstrated that he possessed the financial and personal status that came with the ability to build a castle. For many lords, receiving the license to crenellate was accomplishment enough, so they felt no urgency to complete the process with an outlandish expenditure of money that could result in bankruptcy. Just having the royal license proved they were qualified to move in the circles of the rich and famous and that the monarch recognized their social status’. Lise Hull Kirby Muxloe Castle – Quadrangular Glory in Brick and Water.

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