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Piel Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Fouldry; The Peel of Fouldry; The Pile of Fotheray; Fowdray; Peele

In the civil parish of Barrow in Furness.
In the historic county of Lancashire North of the Sands.
Modern Authority of Cumbria.
1974 county of Cumbria.

OS Map Grid Reference: SD232636
Latitude 54.0624° Longitude -3.1735°

Piel Castle has been described as a certain Masonry Castle.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Originally fortified in the Reign of King Stephen (1135-54). A licence to crenellate was granted in 1327 to the Abbot and Convent of Furness and the visible remains probably date from that period. Dismantled 1403 and partly rebuilt circa 1429, The castle was ruinous by 1537. It was renovated in the mid C19. The monument is an enclosure castle consisting of a keep, gatehouse, inner and outer baileys, an inner and outer moat, curtain walls and towers. Excavations and survey in 1983-4 produced very few remains of medieval occupation, but showed that there was more than one building phase. Cobble rubble with red sandstone dressings. Incomplete 3-storey keep now of 2 long cells with north gatehouse; east side collapsed. Inner defence on 2 sides has gatehouse to west and corner towers. Less complete outer bailey with section of wall and freestanding towers linked by mound and ditch. Keep: chamfered plinth; offset diagonal buttresses and mid-point buttresses; pointed, 2-light windows originally with quatrefoils. Vaulted gatehouse has moulded, pointed arch with clinging figure carved on keystone; hexagonal clasping buttresses. Internal spiral stair to left is lit by slits each side of the buttress; wall bows out at another spiral stair on right return. Projection at south-east corner has different floor levels. Vaulted look-outs at corners of parapet. Inner defence: 2-storey west gatehouse with pointed arches and 2 flights of steps against wall to north; north-west tower is 5-sided. Furness Abbey engaged in much trade through Piel Harbour and fortified this site soon after the Scottish invasions of 1316 and 1322. The castle provided a secure warehouse for contraband goods including Flemish wool. Henry IV briefly took possession but not before the abbots had the roof stripped to ensure the King did not install revenue men. In 1487 Lambert Simnel and an army of mercenaries landed at Piel intending to dethrone Henry VII; their march ended in defeat at the Battle of Stoke. (Derived from PastScape and Listed Building Report)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1327 Sept 26 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Links to mapping and other online resources
Data >
PastScape   County HER   Scheduling   Listing   I. O. E.
Maps >
OS getamap   Streetmap   Old-Maps   Where's the path      
Data/Maps > 
Magic   V. O. B.   EarthTools          
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Photos >
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Sources of information, references and further reading

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
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Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.
The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of English Heritage, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
I do not receive any income from this site and I fund it myself. The information within this site is provided freely by me for educational purposes only.
The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.
Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.
The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.
Please help me to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting me if you see errors or if you can add information.
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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.
This record last updated on Friday, May 3, 2013
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