Caludon Castle

Caludon Castle
Coventry, England
The lone sandstone wall, all that remains of Caludon Castle
Caludon Castle
Coordinates	52°25′05″N 1°27′07″W / 52.418154°N 1.451822°W / 52.418154; -1.451822Coordinates: 52°25′05″N 1°27′07″W / 52.418154°N 1.451822°W / 52.418154; -1.451822
Grid reference	grid reference SP 37379 80159
Site information
Owner	Coventry City Council
Controlled by	Coventry City Council
Open to the public	Yes
Condition	Ruined
Site history
Materials	Grey sandstone
Battles/wars	English Civil War

Caludon Castle is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and Grade I listed building in Coventry, in the West Midlands of England. A second moated site 190 metres (620 ft) to the south is a Scheduled Ancient Monument in its own right. The castle is now a ruin, and all that remains is a large fragment of sandstone wall. What remains of the estate is now an urban park, owned and run by Coventry City Council, but much of it was sold and developed into housing estates in the early 20th century.

The site has been occupied since at least the 11th century CE. The original building, pre-dating the Norman conquest of England, was a large house, which became the property of the Earl of Chester after the conquest. The house was given to the Segrave family in the 13th century, and was first described as a manor in 1239. A licence for crenellation was granted in 1305, at which point the house is thought to have been re-styled as a castle. Another licence was received in 1354, and the property was again rebuilt. In the 14th century, it came into the possession of Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, who was banished in 1398, after which the castle fell into disrepair. Mowbray's son, John, inherited the building, and it remained in the Mowbray family until 1481, when it passed to William de Berkeley, 1st Marquess of Berkeley. It was rebuilt again circa 1580, this time as a mansion, having lain derelict since Mowbray's banishment. The castle was all but destroyed in 1662, and remained in ruins until 1800, when the remains were used in the construction of a farmhouse on the site.

The estate was divided up and much of it sold in 1815, and remained in the hands of multiple private owners until most of the land was purchased by the Coventry Corporation after the First World War and used for housing developments.