Baynard's Castle

Baynard's Castle
Part of the Fortifications of London
Blackfriars, London, England, UK
View of the site in 2009; the first castle was behind the pier of the bridge, the subsequent mansion was on the river slightly to the right of there.
Type	Castle, later mansion
Site history
Built	Before 1017
Materials	stone
Demolished	1666
Garrison information
Occupants	English royalty

Baynard's Castle refers to buildings on two neighbouring sites in London, between where Blackfriars station and St Paul's Cathedral now stand. The first was a Norman fortification constructed by Ralph Baynard and demolished by King John in 1213. The second was a medieval palace built a short distance to the southeast and destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. According to Sir Walter Besant, "There was no house in [London] more interesting than this". The original castle was built at the point where the old Roman walls and River Fleet met the River Thames, just east of what is now Blackfriars station. The Norman castle stood for over a century before being demolished by King John in 1213. It appears to have been rebuilt after the barons' revolt, but the site was sold in 1276 to form the precinct of the great priory of Blackfriars.

About a century later, a new mansion was constructed on land that had been reclaimed from the Thames, southeast of the first castle. The house was rebuilt after 1428, and became the London headquarters of the House of York during the Wars of the Roses. Both King Edward IV and Queen Mary I of England were crowned at the castle.

The house was reconstructed as a royal palace by Henry VII at the end of the 15th century, and Henry VIII gave it to Catherine of Aragon on the eve of their wedding. After Henry's death the house came into the hands of Catherine Parr's brother-in-law, the Earl of Pembroke who built a large extension around a second courtyard in about 1551. The Pembroke family took the side of Parliament in the Civil War, and after the Restoration the house was occupied by the Earl of Shrewsbury, a Royalist. Baynard's Castle was left in ruins after the Great Fire of London in 1666, although fragments survived into the 19th century. The site is now occupied by a BT office called Baynard House, but the castle is commemorated in Castle Baynard Street and the Castle Baynard ward of the City of London.