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In 1275 Nov 7, Willielmus de Cavereswell (William de Carswell; William de Caverswall) was granted, by Edward I, (In year 3 of his reign) a Royal licence to crenellate Cavereswell (Caverswall Castle)
Licence for William de Cavereswell to crenellate his house of Cavereswell. (CPR)

Willielmus de Cavereswell ... mansum suum de ... Cavereswell, Staff. (Turner and Parker)

Granted at Westminster.

Original source is;

(In fact, the original source given is usually a transcription/translation of what are precious medieval documents not readily availably. It should be noted that these transcription/translations often date to the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries and that unwitting bias of transcribers may affect the translation. Care should also be taken to avoid giving modern meaning to the medieval use of certain stock words and terms. Licentia is best translated as 'freedom to' not 'permission'.)

Significant later sources are;

William de Caverswall
William de Caverswall Sheriff of Staffordshire in 1260 and 1269. Clearly a knight of local significance, but of local significance only.

The Tomb of William de Caverswall
The Staffordshire Historian,Samuel Edswicke, saw the tomb, at the foot of the chancel steps (from where it was moved to its present location in 1880), & managed to translate the now almost illegible inscription:
Hic jacet Will’us de Caverswall, miles, castri structor eram, domibus, fossique cemento, vivis dans operam, nunc clandor hoc monumento, which translated becomes ‘Here lies William de Caverswall, Knight & Lord, builder of the fort, having given work to the living is now enclosed in this monument’.
Dr Plot saw the tomb a century later (1686) & recorded it with it’s oft-quoted addition ‘Sr William of Caverswall here lye I, who built the castle & the pooles bye – Sr William of Caverswall here you lye, your castle is down & your pooles are dry’. (http://www.caverswall.org.uk/st_peters_mis.html accessed 27 March 2008)

More information about licences to crenellate can be found here.

Please do inform Gatehouse if you see any errors, can add information or can otherwise help to improve this resource. Please contact Gatehouse.

Record created by Philip Davis. This record last updated on Sunday, October 4, 2015.


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