Bodium Castle is an impressive fortress, built in 1385 by Sir Edward Dalyngrigge, a former knight of Edward III, with the permission of Richard II. The castle has no keep and all the rooms and chambers are built around the outer defensive wall. This was characteristic of castle architecture in the 14th century. Sadly, while the exterior of the castle has survived largely intact the interior has not, although enough of the walls and foundations survive to allow some reasonably educated guesses about the interior layout.

The castle has a round tower at each corner and a square tower in the centre of each wall, two of these towers contain the entrances. The castle is surrounded by a huge moat that gives the impression that the castle is standing in the centre of a lake rather than surrounded by a moat.

Access to the main gatehouse was via a small octagonal island in the middle of the moat connected by bridges, one of which may have been a drawbridge. The gatehouse itself comprises two imposing towers and had three portcullises. Today the castle is accessed by a bridge going strait to the central island but the original access route was via a bridge set at 90 degrees to the castle entrance making it hard for an enemy force to charge the main gatehouse. The access to the postern gate was a much simpler affair with little defensive capability. However the postern was very low and narrow and the gatehouse featured murder holes in its ceiling.

Viewed from the edge of the moat the castle has all the appearance of an impressive and powerful fortress but it is questionable if it was really intended to be a fortress. The outer wall has some quite large windows in it which are certainly weak points in its defensive capabilities. Indeed it has been questioned if this was really a fortified manor house designed to impress visitors rather than a castle because despite it's three portcullises and murder holes in the ceiling of the gatehouse the arrow slits in the upper levels are unsuitable for this purpose and some military historians have raised questions about the design of the the crenelations and suggest that they may have been purely decorative.
However, the castle was involved in two conflicts. In 1483 during the wars of the Roses it was placed under siege by Richard III's forces and surrendered. During the English Civil War the castle was attacked by the Parliamentary forces and following its capture the castle was slighted, meaning that it was deliberately damaged so it could not be used as a fortress this involved destroying the interior buildings and bridges. 

It has also been said that the moat could be drained fairly quickly by any attacking forces. The castle's 28 garderobes (toilets) discharged into the moat, so the castle was effectively surrounded by an open sewer so even if the attackers drained the moat it would not have been a pleasant area to cross.

But whatever your opinion of its defensive capabilities, when viewed from a distance it presents the perfect image of a powerful fortress set in the middle of a lake and the very essence of what a mediaeval castle should look like. Which is why it appears on the covers of so many books about castles.

Today the castle is owned by the National Trust and is a protected Grade I listed building and Scheduled Monument.

The main gatehouse and a classic image of an English castle surrounded by a moat.

The postern gate, more a sort of tradesman's entrance. It was too narrow for a cart to pass though and too low for a horse and rider to pass through. It has been suggested that in the 14th century it was intended as the servants and tradesmen’s entrance.

Another view of the heavily fortified main gatehouse and all that's left of the building on the central island.

 A view of the main gatehouse and one of the side walls.

One of the side walls of the castle, the large windows were a weak point in its defences.

The interior of the castle was destroyed after it fell to the Parliamentary forces during the English Civil War.

The various doorway openings in the wall give an hint of the upper floors of the castle.

Another interior view showing the locations of doors and fireplaces in the upper floors.

I hope you enjoyed reading my blog and found it interesting.