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Iron Age hillfort, Roman Fort, Medieval motte and bailey castle.
Enclosure castle overlooking the small settlement of Grantabridge. Motte measures 200 ft diameter at its base, 34 ft at the top and stands between 33 ft to 56 ft high. The site originally enclosed 4 acres.
The West Gate of the roman site has been identified.
70 c; Roman fort or fortlett called DUROLIPONTE, built within an Iron Age fort. Covering 25-28 acres with four gates, and a cemetery located to the south. Had wooden buildings.
1 C Late; Rectangular enclosure of 198ft by 99ft. Had public buildings. Evidence of iron workings and pottery production.
100-300 Dating from; Rubbish dumps, ditches and roads identified.
120 c; Civilian population.
3 C In decline.
4 C Start; Refortified with a ditch, wall and bank. Re-inhabited.
4 C End; Fell into decay. Abandoned.
410 Romans withdrew..
870 Grantbridgeshire was laid to waste by the Danes.
921 An army of Danish settlers surrendered to King Edward the Elder, at the defended settlement.
1010 The defended settlement was burnt by the army of King Swain.
1066 c; Picot de Cambridge was Sheriff and lived at the castle.
1068 Built by William the Conqueror against the outer walls of the town as a motte and bailey castle .
1085 Domesday Book entry states that twenty seven houses were demolished to make room for the castle.
1190 c; Stonework added.
1199-1216 Master Nicholas de Andeli was in charge of the siege engines.
1284-1299 Rebuilt by Edward I, including barbican, gatehouse, curtain and cylindrical angle towers, great tower and hall at the cost of £2525.00
13 C Late; Rebuilt in stone. Curtain wall, Gatehouse, corner
towers and a wet moat were added. The moat measuring 4m deep.
1307-1327 Between; Chapel was either rebuilt or completed.
1308 Books and ornaments belonging to the Knights Templar and John Mohun were taken from their House of Templar in Duxford and placed in the castle.
1308 Thomas Giselingham, William de Sutton and Ralph Bonet were custodians at the castle.
1308 6 December; Brother William de Mawringges died at the castle.
1308-1309 Fourteen Knights Templar were imprisoned in the castle.
1309 30 September; The fourteen Knight Templar being held in the castle were sent to the Tower of London.
1359 Agnes de Norwood was charged with transferring Sir John de Moynes, a prisoner, from Nottingham Castle to Cambridge Castle.
1367 There was an inquest in to the deterioration of the castle.
14 C Stone was taken for the building of new Colleges.
15 C The hall was demolished and materials used to help built Kings College.
1590 Described as being ruined and decayed.
1600 The only complete building remaining was the gatehouse.
1603 Nicholas Bastwicke, a Catholic Seminary, was imprisoned in the castle.
1606 The south west Gatehouse was the only complete building standing.
1642 July; Oliver Cromwell seized the county weapons magazine at the castle
1643 Parliament built earth bastions around the castle as well as brick barracks in the grounds.
1646 The garrison was disbanded
1647 July; Bastions slighted and partly demolished.
1663-1672 Francis Holcroft (1633-1692), founder of the Churches on congregational principles, and known as the ‘Apostle of Cambridge’, was imprisoned in the gaol on the site with fellow preacher Joseph Oddy (1629-1687).
1717 Simon Ockley (1678-1820), author of ‘The History Of The Saracens’ was imprisoned in the castle.
1801-1807 G Byfield built the new octagonal county gaol and filled in part of the moat.
1810 Stone coffins discovered on the site.
1811 The western Civil War bastion was demolished.
1842 The Gatehouse and Great Hall were pulled down to make way for the new courthouse.
19 C The Gatehouse was used as a prison.
1932 The motte and the Civil War defences were badly damaged with the building of the County Council offices.
1942 Document produced to show how defences would have been built around the castle grounds should there have been a German invasion. The document is kept at the Counties Record Office, Cambridge.
1949 Excavated.
1954 Courthouse designed by TH Wyatt and D Bandon was demolished.
1957 Excavated.
1957 Scheduled.
1958-1959 Excavated..
1959 Excavated.
1961-1962 Excavated.
1962-1963 Excavated.
1964 Excavated.
1964-1968 Excavated..
1972-1976 Excavated.
1974 Excavated.
1978 Excavated.
1982 Field Investigation.
1983 Excavated.
1983 Excavated.
1984 Excavated.
1984 Excavated..
1985 Excavated.
1986 Excavated.
1988 Excavated.
1989 Watching Brief.tion.
1993 Evaluated.
1993-1994 Evaluation.
1994 Evaluation.
1994 Excavated..
1995 Excavation.
1997 Excavated.
20 C The motte survives.
2000 Surveyed.
2000 Evaluated.
2002 Excavated.