Introduction

Caludon Castle is situated three miles from the centre of Coventry in the suburb of Wyken. Today a Grade I listed monument, with only a sandstone wall and decorative inlaid windows remaining of the eight foot thick walls of the Great Chambers believed to be modelled on the Great Hall at Kenilworth, the ruin is surrounded on three sides by the original moat set in a picturesque 20-acre enclosed community park.

By legend, the castle is said to be the birthplace of St George, England’s Patron Saint and son of Albert, Lord of Caludon, in King Arthur’s time.

Built in the early part of the 14th Century, probably by John de Segrave junior between 1335 and 1353, after King Edward I granted a ‘licence to crenellate’ in 1305, the castle replaced an early 13th Century wooden manor house and moat owned by the influential Segrave family who held a number of important positions under the King.

For over 400 years Caludon Castle and its manor in Warwickshire was owned by some of the most powerful families in England. From the Segraves in the 13^th and mid 14^th centuries to the Mowbrays, Dukes of Norfolk and Earl Marshals of England in the latter half of the 14^th Century, and the wealthy Berkeleys in the 15^th and 16^th centuries – owners of several large estates including Caludon as well as Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, still owned by the Berkeley family for over 1,000 years.

The Lords of Caludon Castle had close links with royalty and Shakespeare. Lord Henry Berkeley, Lord of Caludon, was Godson of King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I was Godmother to his children. Indeed, Caludon is also linked with two of William Shakespeare’s most famous plays.

Caludon’s links with two of Shakespeare’s plays – A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Richard II are well documented.

Shakespeare’s company The Lord Chamberlain’s Men was sponsored by Queen Elizabeth’s Lord Chamberlain Lord Hunsdon, who is widely believed by Shakespeare academics to have commissioned Shakespeare to write and perform ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ for the society wedding in London of Lord Hunsdon’s granddaughter Elizabeth Carey to Thomas Berkeley, son of Lord Henry Berkeley, Lord of the Manor of Caludon. 

The Bard’s work also featured another Lord of Caludon, Thomas Mowbray, (who also held the title of Duke of Norfolk), in Richard II, which depicted an aborted duel between Mowbray and Henry Bolingbroke at Gosford Green in Coventry in September 1398, following accusations of treason between the two men. The King stopped the duel before combat commenced and banished both men abroad.

Lord Henry Berkeley, once one of England’s richest men, would have almost certainly known Shakespeare through The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, and there is compelling evidence that he may have trod the boards in the Great Hall at Caludon Castle as both an actor and indeed playwright with one of the travelling companies of players with which he was involved.

Detailed accounts of Lord Henry Berkeley’s lavish entertaining at Caludon Castle are recorded in Berkeley Castle Archives, revealing visits to Caludon by several of Shakespeare’s companies.

These accounts included three payments to one of Shakespeare’s earlier companies, The Queen’s Men, and 60s is recorded as a payment to Shakespeare’s Earl of Pembroke’s Players on 21^st June 1593. Lord Henry Berkeley was resident at Caludon at the time of the visit of Shakespeare’s Pembroke’s Players who took to the road after the Plague closed London’s playhouses in February 1593. The provincial tour became known as Shakespeare’s Plague Tour.

Shakespeare’s home just 20 miles from Coventry made it a relatively easy journey to visit Caludon and indeed Coventry where he performed several times at the medieval St Mary’s Hall.

After Lord Henry died of ‘salmonella poisoning’ aged 80 at Caludon, the castle and its manor was eventually sold to the Morgan family and subsequently the Cliffords who decided to demolish the castle which had become expensive to maintain and had progressively decayed since being sold by the Berkeleys – only the imposing wall of Caludon Castle’s Great Chambers remained. The Cliffords had also demolished some of their other substantial properties in Warwickshire.

First ever book

A 217-page book entitled ‘A History of Caludon Castle – the Lords of the Manor of Caludon’ was published in 2014 by John Clarke OBE, and written and edited by George Demidowicz and co-editor Stephen Johnson. Priced £25 it can be purchased by emailing john@lordshipofcaludon.co.uk