Macclesfield Castle

Between 1392 and 1398, John de Macclesfield, an officer in the court of Richard II and Keeper of the Great Wardrobe. began acquiring land in the town of Macclesfield for the purpose of building a manor house. Construction of the house – Macclesfield Castle – began in 1398. In 1398, and again in 1399, Macclesfield applied for a licence to crenellate his new manor house. The historian of the castle, R.C. Turner, attributes this to the crisis towards the end of Richard II's reign. When John de Macclesfied died in 1422, his estates passed to his bastard children. By 1444, these lands had been bought by Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham. The castle passed from the possession of the Dukes…

When the castle was described in 1585, Smith recorded that Macclesfield Castle was a square building with projecting wings and decorative towers. Because so little of the building survives, it is unknown whether it had a great hall, but Turner believes the building was probably influenced by the contemporary construction of Bodiam Castle and alterations to Kenilworth Castle; Turner comes to this conclusion as he believes John de Macclesfield would have been involved in organising payment for the construction of these castles in his role as Keeper of the Wardrobe. The overall layout and size of Macclesfield Castle is uncertain, but it was probably 140 by Unusually, it featured a vaulted…