Touring Sudeley, Cotswold Castle with Tudor Ties
Queen Elizabeth,Henry VIII's last wife, Elton John part of its past
Nov 13, 2009
If walls could talk, those at Sudeley Castle would make fascinating storytellers. The castle, partly restored as a family home and tourist attraction, and partly left in ruins, lies tucked into the Gloucestershire Cotswolds. In the course of its 1,000-year history, it has changed hands more than a dozen times, often serving as a royal castle.
Sudeley saw the likes of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Henry’s last wife Katherine Parr, and Queen Elizabeth I. It also has served as a playground for movie star royalty. Liz Hurley was married here with the Beckhams and Hugh Grant in attendance. Elton John arrived by helicopter.
Rose-Covered Estate Rooted in Castle’s Past
Part of the castle remains the private residence of Lord and Lady Ashcombe and her family. The castle’s story begins in the 10th century when a Saxon manor house was given by King Ethelred (The Unready) as a wedding present to his daughter. In the 1400s, its owner built the castle on the site using his spoils from the Hundred Years War. However, he quickly lost it to Edward IV when he picked the wrong side in the War of the Roses.
King Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth and Tudor Intrigue
The castle remained in royal hands when Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn stayed there in 1535. But it is more closely associated with another of his wives, the last and the only one to survive him, Katherine Parr.
After Henry VIII died, his son gave Sudeley to his uncle, Sir Thomas Seymour, who was something of a rogue in the royal court. Thomas and Katherine were linked romantically before she married Henry VIII, and they became secretly involved again just weeks after the king’s death. At the time, the teenage Princess Elizabeth and Lady Jane Grey were living with the widowed queen.
Thomas planned to court Elizabeth for himself but jealousy ensued and Thomas ended up marrying Katherine who moved to Sudeley with her young charges. Visitors can only imagine the gossip among the roses and hedges of Sudeley’s pleasure garden, which has been restored today.
Katherine died in childbirth at Sudeley. Thomas didn’t stick around for the funeral, but traveled to London, to woo Princess Elizabeth. His roguish behavior in the court cost him his head a year later.
Henry VIII Queen’s Coffin in Castle Chapel
Katherine was buried in the chapel at Sudeley and forgotten. More than two centuries after her death a farmer dug under the wall of the ruined chapel and uncovered a coffin inscribed “Here lyeth Quene Kateryn, Wife to Kyng Hemy VIII.” He opened the coffin and found the body wrapped in cloth and, so the story goes, intact.
The coffin was opened several more times by curious locals before the area rector had it removed to a vault nearby. Legend has it that an ivy berry fell into the coffin and wove a crown around the queen’s head. In 1816, Katherine’s coffin was put in a new tomb beneath her marble effigy in Sudeley’s St. Mary’s Church. Visitors can see it today while touring the church.
Castle Ruined by Cromwell in English Civil War
During the English Civil War, troops plundered the castle and desecrated the chapel, using the chancel as a slaughterhouse and the altar as a butcher’s block. The castle fell into ruin, left to the ravages of the climate and farmers who used it to house their livestock.
Almost 200 years later, new owners purchased the castle and began restoration. During Victorian times Emma Dent presided as the lady of castle, holding balls, soirees, and teas. Upon her death in 1900, Sudeley went to her nephew whose family owns it today. Death duties and other expenses forced them to sell off much of the 12,000-acre estate, which is now a tenth of its original size.
During World War II the grounds contained a camp for German and Italian prisoners of war, who worked the grounds. The castle became a safe house for part of the Tate Gallery’s picture collection during the bombing of London.
The current lady of the castle, Lady Elizabeth Ashcombe, has furthered the castle’s refurbishment with revenues generated from tourist admissions and special event rentals, including the weddings for which the castle is renowned.
English Roses, Pheasants, and Castle’s English Gardens
The castle displays exhibits on Emma Dent, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, textiles from the 17th century to the present, the bejeweled clothing of Henry VIII and his wives from the TV series “The Six Wives of Henry VIII,” and a 1,000-year history of Sudeley that includes Katherine Parr’s prayer book, locks of her hair and a tooth.
The castle grounds are known for their gardens and pheasantry.
- Queen’s Garden: Occupying the original Tudor site, where Katherine Parr, Princess Elizabeth, and Lady Jane Grey walked, contain modern English roses as well as old-fashioned roses from England, Damascus and Provence. It also contains clematis, cleomes and echinacea.
- Knot Garden: Hidden by 150-year-old yew hedges, the garden was created in 1995 to resemble box hedge gardens of the Elizabethan era. The design is based on a pattern in the dress worn by Elizabeth I in a portrait hanging in the castle.
- White Garden: Ivy and white roses mark the former covered passage where Katherine Parr and Lady Jane Grey would have walked from the castle to the chapel for their morning prayers. Symbolizing the purity of the Virgin Mary, all the flowers in the garden are white: peonies, petunias, and tulips.
- Secret Garden: Revived to celebrate the marriage of Lord and Lady Ashcombe, it includes 1,000 tulips, heliotropes, and Russian sage.
- Pheasantry: Fifteen rare and endangered pheasant breeds from around the world are raised and bred in cooperation with the World Pheasant Association.
Visiting Sudeley Castle in the Cotswolds
Sudeley Castle is a short walk from the town of Winchcombe and is open March 30 to Nov. 1. A tour of the Cotswolds might also include the Tudor castle hotel Thornbury, the noteworthy English garden Hidcote and Blenheim Palace where Winston Churchill was born.
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