Bolingbroke Castle (Slighted 1653)

This piece was created from sketches I did on a day out at the remains of Bolingbroke Castle which if approximately twenty miles away from where I live.

There are only small sections of the castle wall remaining. It was built in the early 13th century by Randulph de Blundevil, Earl of Chester and Lincoln. In the late 13th and early 14th centuries it served as an administrative centre for the extensive estates of Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, before passing by marriage in 1311 to the house of Lancaster. Henry IV, son of John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster, was born here in 1366. The castle was extensively rebuilt in the 15th century, but by the early 17th century had fallen into disrepair. In October 1643 the Royalists stood siege here and were defeated by the Parliamentarians, who held the castle before it was left to decay and was then "Slighted" in 1653 so that it could not be used against the Parliamentarians in the future.

The work is sold unframed and is dispatched in a cardboard tube.