Carisbrooke Castle and Charles I

History

Carisbrooke Castle is the most historically significant building on the Isle of Wight, and its role as the prison of King Charles I during the English Civil War is the most dramatic chapter in the island's long history. The castle stands on a commanding hilltop above the village of Carisbrooke, just south-west of Newport, and has served as the principal fortification of the island for nearly a thousand years.

The castle's origins are Norman. After the Conquest of 1066, William FitzOsbern built a motte-and-bailey castle on the site, controlling the centre of the island and the approaches to Newport. The stone keep and curtain walls were added in the 12th century, and the castle became the seat of the Lords of the Isle of Wight, who governed with considerable independence from the Crown. The de Redvers family held the lordship for much of the medieval period, and the castle was the administrative and military heart of their island domain.

The castle's most famous episode began in November 1647, when King Charles I arrived on the Isle of Wight seeking refuge during the English Civil War. Charles had escaped from Hampton Court and crossed to the island hoping that the governor, Colonel Robert Hammond, would be sympathetic to his cause. He was wrong. Hammond, though initially uncertain, kept the king under increasingly strict confinement at Carisbrooke. Charles was given comfortable quarters in the castle, but he was a prisoner, and his movements were progressively restricted as his attempts to escape and to negotiate with foreign powers became known.

Charles made at least two serious escape attempts from Carisbrooke. The most famous involved squeezing through the bars of a window in the great chamber. The king got his head and shoulders through but became stuck at the chest and had to be pulled back inside. The bars had been tested beforehand by a page who was thinner than the king, and the failure was humiliating. A second attempt, involving a rope from an upper window, was betrayed before it could be executed. After these failures, Charles was moved to more secure rooms and his guard was doubled.

The king remained at Carisbrooke from November 1647 until September 1648, when he was moved first to Newport for the Treaty of Newport negotiations, and then to Hurst Castle on the mainland. From Hurst he was taken to London, tried for treason, and executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649. The Treaty of Newport, conducted in the Grammar School in Newport's High Street, was the last serious attempt at negotiation between the king and Parliament. It failed, and the regicides proceeded to trial.

The castle continued as a military installation after the Civil War, and was substantially modified in the late 16th century when artillery bastions were added to the outer walls to defend against the threat of Spanish invasion. These Elizabethan defences, designed by the Italian engineer Federigo Giambelli, are among the best-preserved examples in England and give the castle its distinctive star-shaped outer walls.

Today Carisbrooke Castle is managed by English Heritage and is one of the island's most visited attractions. The Norman keep, reached by climbing the motte, offers panoramic views across the island. The well house, where donkeys have been used to draw water since the 16th century, is a favourite with visitors, and the tradition of keeping donkeys at the castle continues. The castle museum displays artefacts from the castle's history, including items associated with Charles I's imprisonment.

The Princess Beatrice Garden, created in the early 20th century within the castle walls, commemorates Queen Victoria's youngest daughter, who served as Governor of the Isle of Wight and lived in the castle until her death in 1944. Beatrice was the last person to use Carisbrooke Castle as a residence, and her presence connects the castle's story from the medieval lords through the Civil War to the modern era.

Carisbrooke village, gathered below the castle walls, has its own charm. The Priory of St Cross, founded in the 12th century as an Augustinian house, survives as the parish church. The village has a pub, a tea room, and quiet lanes that feel centuries removed from Newport, which is barely a mile away. The walk from Newport to Carisbrooke, up Castle Hill and through the village, is one of the most rewarding short walks on the island.