Everything about Kimbolton Castle totally explained
Kimbolton Castle in
Kimbolton,
Cambridgeshire, is best known as the final home (or prison) of
King Henry VIII's first queen,
Catherine of Aragon.
Norman castles
A wooden
motte and bailey castle was built in Kimbolton, on a different site, in
Norman times. Later,
King John granted
Geoffrey Fitzpiers,
Earl of Essex permission by to hold a fair and market in Kimbolton, as a consequence of which a market place was created, with the existing church at one end and a new castle at the other. No remains of this castle (most likely a
fortified manor house) remain, although it was built on the site of the present castle.
Tudor castle
The castle went through various phases of ownership until, by the
1520s, it belonged to the
Wingfield family. The medieval castle was rebuilt as a Tudor manor house, parts of which survive.
Catherine of Aragon was sent here in April
1534 for refusing to give up her status or deny the validity of her marriage. The
fenland climate damaged her health, and she died here in January
1536. Her body was carried in procession to the Peterborough Abbey (now
Peterborough Cathedral). She is reputed to haunt the castle.
Earls and Dukes of Manchester
The castle was bought by
Sir Henry Montagu, later
1st Earl of Manchester, in
1615. His descendants owned the castle for 335 years until it was sold in
1951.
Charles Edward Montagu, the 4th Earl who was created
1st Duke of Manchester in
1719, had many works of reconstruction carried out between
1690 and
1720. Sir
John Vanbrugh and his assistant
Nicholas Hawksmoor redesigned the facades of the castle in a classical style, but with battlements to evoke its history as a castle, the portico was later added by
Alessandro Galilei. The
Venetian painter
Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini redecorated some of the reconstructed rooms in
1708, including the main staircase and the chapel. Rich, gilded furnishings in a Louis XIV-inspired style were commissioned from French upholsterers working in London.
For a later duke,
Robert Adam produced plans for the castle gatehouse and other garden buildings, including an
orangery. Only one of these buildings, the gatehouse, was constructed in around
1764.
Mews buildings were added to provide stables, and an avenue of
Giant Sequoias was planted in the
19th century.
The castle was used by the
Royal Army Medical Corps during
World War II, and the
10th Duke of Manchester sold the castle to
Kimbolton School in
1950. The furnishings were scattered in sales and some have come to national collections. There is limited public opening during the school holidays and at weekends.
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