Thornbury Castle Hotel in the English Cotswolds
Haunted? King Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Bloody Mary All Slept Here
Oct 30, 2009
Guests at Thornbury Castle can stay in the same room where King Henry VIII slept with the second of his six wives, Anne Boleyn, and peer out the same windows as Queen Mary I when she was just a princess and not “Bloody Mary.” History walks the corridors of the only Tudor castle in England that operates as a hotel, and some say ghosts may walk there as well.
Cotswold Castle Hotel Has Bloody History
Work on the castle stopped abruptly in 1521 when its owner, Edward Stafford, Third Duke of Buckingham, was executed. The Tudor court wanted him drawn and quartered, but King Henry VIII, remembering happy days hunting with his old friend, told the executioners just to lop off his head. The duke’s offense? He added fortifications to his castle. Rumors, fueled by the sinister Cardinal Wolsey, spread that the duke was planning a rebellion.
The castle became the property of the Crown and Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn stayed there for 10 days in 1535, taking the duke’s bedchamber. The king’s oldest daughter, Princess Mary, spent part of her childhood here.
When she became Queen Mary I, known as “Bloody Mary” for the many subjects she had executed, she returned the castle to the duke’s son. Unable to afford its upkeep, he abandoned the castle, which lay vacant and prey for scavengers for 200 years.
Not until the 1800s did the castle become a residence again, this time by the Howard family, whose ancestors also had ties to the Tudors. In 2000, it became part of the von Essen Collection of private hotels.
Ghosts May Be Haunting Castle Hotel
Some hotel employees say the ghost of the duke’s stepfather, Jasper Tudor, an advisor to King Henry VIII, makes mischief in the library, pulling books off the shelves. He quiets down when sharply told to stop.
One guest reported a strong presence in the bathroom of the Queen Mary I bedchamber. Other guests felt a hand pressing down on their chests while they slept in their canopied and coronet beds.
Haunted or not, Thornbury Castle is an intriguing place to stay. The priciest room, the Tower bedchamber, has the widest bed in England: 10 feet. Below it is the Duke’s bedchamber, once connected to a gallery leading from the courtyard to St. Mary the Virgin Church next door. The duke walked the gallery to his private room in the church where he could hear the services without being seen.
The duchess’s bedchamber was just below the duke’s. Their marriage, arranged by Henry VII when the duke was only 12 years old, was not a happy one. Still, they had four children.
Castle Hotel Cozy Despite Ghosts
Other hotel bedchambers include the Pembroke, where the toilet is housed in a throne. The Mary I bedchamber, formerly the duke’s private apartments, has a huge bay of intricate oriel windows overlooking the courtyard and 130-foot church tower.
Many of the rooms have tapestries and fireplaces and all 27 bedchambers contain modern amenities, including Internet access. A decanter of sherry welcomes guests in each one.
The hotel has three dining rooms. The hexagonal Tower Dining Room has slits in the stone walls for launching arrows and a fireplace mantel that bears the Howard coat of arms. Thornbury Castle General Manager Brian Jarvis shows guests panels that once hid chamber pots. In Victorian times, ladies would retire to another room after dinner while the men stayed and discussed business. They used a chamber pot rather than leave the room for the toilet and risk being talked about in their absence.
It’s easy to imagine courtiers flirting with ladies in waiting in the castle’s Privy Garden and “Goodly” Garden, which contained an orchard in the duke’s day. A 500-year-old vineyard on the castle grounds produces grapes that are used to make the castle’s own vintage of white wine.
Castle Nestles in the Cotswolds
Thornbury Castle is located south of Stratford-upon-Avon, west of Blenheim Palace and near Westonbirt Arboretum in the Cotswolds. It is one of 29 hotels owned by the von Essen Collection in the United Kingdom and France. Other castles in the region with Tudor ties include Sudeley and Kenilworth.
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