Beckington Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

At the Castle Corner crossroads, in the village of Beckington near Frome, stands a tall rendered stone house whose name of “castle” owes more to Victorian romanticism than to military history. The specialists of the Gatehouse database indeed reject any defensive function: the building is a clothier's manor house, of which only the three-storey crenellated porch evokes castle imagery. The present house, from the early 17th century, stands on the site of a medieval building. Its construction is traditionally associated with the Long family, local clothiers, and among its occupants was James Ley, 1st Earl of Marlborough. A persistent legend links it with wives of Henry VIII, without the slightest documentary support. The name Castle House only appears in 1839. Restored at the end of the 19th century and damaged by fire in 1966, the house then served as a school and, after its purchase in 1989 by an engineering firm, as offices restored in the mid-1990s. Grade II* listed, it remains private property with no documented public opening.