An 11th century ringwork and bailey castle at Bourn Hall. The castle was built by Picot de Cambridge, the first Norman Sheriff of the shire. It is though to have burnt down in 1266 during a raid by Robert de Lisle.
A few miles S. of Cambridge, where the Burne stream joins the Ouse, was the castle of a barony belonging to Picott, and afterwards to the Peverels. Then it was held successively by the Reeches, the Burnwyshes, and Hagars ; and finally was left by the will of its last owner, whose mansion-house stands in the middle of the old works, to Edward I., at a time when the Roman fashion was adopted by some English barons of marking the Sovereign their heir when they had incurred his displeasure. The castle was burnt in the Barons’ War (temp. Henry III.), by Ribald de Lisle. It stood on rising ground commanding a wide prospect over the country round. (Castles Of England, Sir James D. Mackenzie, 1896)
Leave a Reply