1086

Domesday Survey – no mention of a castle at Whittington

1090-1100

First motte-and-bailey castle possibly built around this time

1138

Castle fortified for Empress Matilda against Stephen

This work may have included the rectangular tower keep on the motte

1160-64

Held by Henry II

1164

Granted to Geoffrey de Vere, Sheriff of Shropshire

c1171

Held by Roger de Powis

by 1187

Held by his son Morys de Powis

1195

Fulk II wins legal judgement for Whittington, but does not get the castle

1195-1206

Unspecified building work at the castle

1200-03

Fulk III in rebellion to press the same claim as his father

1204

Fulk III finally gained possession

1215

Fulk III joined Magna Carta rebels

1221-22

Authority given to the Earl of Chester to strengthen the castle

1223

Castle abandoned (March) before being taken by the Welsh under Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, then returned  (July)

1220s

Stone buildings constructed – inner bailey and outer gatehouse

Earthworks and water defences probably also improved

1233

Welsh truce had broken down – the king sent Fulk 500 crossbow bolts

c1239

Fulk may have married Llywelyn’s daughter

c1258

Death of Fulk III

1264

Fulk IV drowned at Battle of Lewes, fighting the de Montfort rebels

1264

Simon de Montfort attempted to get the castle

1265

Llywelyn ap Gruffyd granted overlordship of Whittington

1265

Custody granted to Hamo le Strange as Fulk V was a minor

1283

First record of a manor court held at Whittington

1295

Fulk V becomes Lord Fitzwarine

1290s

End of Welsh wars – the March became peaceful for the first time in centuries

1315

Death of Fulk V

1315-

Fulk VI and Eleanor – they probably created the designed landscape, pleasure garden and refurbished the apartments

1330

Fulk VI accused of treachery and flees the country.  Castle committed to a keeper and his sons imprisoned.  He was cleared by November.

1330

First mention of ‘gardens, fruits, herbage’

1336

Death of Fulk VI

1346

Fulk VII fights at Battle of Crecy

1349

Death of Fulk VII during the Black Death, which affected Whittington badly

1350-

Wardship held by William Fitz Waryn

1362

Fulk VIII attained his majority

1374

Death of Fulk VIII, his son only 8

1374-77

Whittington held in wardship by Alice Perrers, Edward III’s mistress

1378

Castle ‘in great need of repair… There are two gardens worth 5s yearly…’

1378

Castle occupied by James de Audeley, lord of Heley (Staffs)

1383

Fulk IX gained Whittington

1385

Accounts record building work on walls and roofs

1391

Death of Fulk IX

1392

Inquisition for Fulk IX – castle ‘utterly in ruins’

1392-93

Wardship held by John Devereux of Maugne

1393-94

Wardship held by Thomas de Percy

1394-

Wardship held by Ivo Fitz Waryn

1395

Castle in poor repair

1401-03

Ivo hired carpenters and masons to repair the castle

1400-

Glyndwr rebellion affects Whittington area badly

1407

Fulk X dies, shortly after marrying and fathering a son.

Whittington taken over by the king, but worth little due to the rebel damage

1408

Pardon granted for Whittington residents who supported Glyndwr

1409

Fulk’s widow Anne married again to Sir William de Clinton

1413

Anne’s dower assigned – she was given ‘The outer barbican in the castle in the north part of the same [illegible] barbican with houses in same gate as well above as below with new stable in same barbican [illegible] with garden ditched around with water lying in the north part of the castle there’

1414

Death of Ivo Fitz Waryn – Anne and William appear to have obtained wardship

1420

Death of Fulk XI aged only 14 - end of the direct male line

His sister Elizabeth inherits - she was 17 and already married to Richard Hankeford

1426-27

Elizabeth dies, leaving Richard as owner

1431

Richard Hankeford dies, leaving two daughters, Thomasia and Elizabeth

1433

Elizabeth dies leaving Thomasia as sole heir

1437

Thomasia marries William Bourghchier

The Fitzwarine peerage carries into the Bourghchier family

1453

Death of Thomasia

1469

Death of William Bourghchier

Their son, Fulk Bourghchier, Lord Fitzwarin becomes lord of Whittington

1479

Death of Fulk Bourghchier

His son John Bourchier aged only 9

1491

John Bourchier becomes lord

1536

Marcher lordships abolished - Whittington annexed to Shropshire

1536

John Bourchier created Earl of Bath

1536-39

John Leland reports ‘a village in a valley conteining a hunderith houses, and hath a dichid round castelle not very large in the midle of the village’

1539

Death of John Bourchier

Succeeded by his son, also John, the second Earl

1545

Whittington sold to the Crown - Detailed survey of the lordship produced

1545-49

Manor leased to Anthony Strelley, knt.

1552

Henry Duke of Suffolk and Thomas Dupont receive grant for the lordship

Whittington granted by Queen Mary to Henry Earl of Arundel and his heirs

1562

The earl, with son-in-law and daughter John Lord Lumley and Lady Jane mortgaged the castle and lordship to Richard Lambert (a grocer), Richard Carell (a mercer), Roger Pipe (a leather-seller), John Isham (a mercer) and William Albany (a merchant tailor), all citizens of London

William Albany later acquired the property as his sole right

1590

Death of William Albany, succeeded by his son Francis Albany

1598

Death of Francis Albany, succeeded by his son, also Francis

1623

Francis Albany grants first permission to remove stone from the castle

1632

Francis Albany let to Edward Prichard of Bergill (yeoman) ‘the buildings called the Castle Gatehouse and Court House, and garden or court within the walls of the Mayne Castle in Whittington’ at a rent of 2s. annually. The tenant was to repair the premises being allowed ‘sufficient mayne timber … and freestone out of the castle’ for the purpose.

1636

Death of the younger Francis, succeeded by his daughter Sarah Albany

Much of the estate in the hands of creditors

1639

Sarah marries Thomas Lloyd of Aston

1638

Prichard leased the same castle property to George Williams of Shrewsbury, mercer

1644

Civil war skirmish near Whittington - No record of garrison or defence at the castle

1673

Castle let to Thomas Lloyd of London merchant, who undertook repairs

c1760

The eastern tower of the inner bailey fell into the moat after a severe frost

1776

The inner bailey was largely dismantled to lay turnpike roads

The ‘lock up’ created,  by re-using a doorway from the inner bailey

1778

Earliest plan of Whittington by Mr Hale

1794

Joseph Turner sketches the outer gatehouse

1802

A new stable with a thatched roof built

1808

Castle leased by William Lloyd to farmer Thomas Broughall

1809

William Lloyd restores the outer gatehouse

Well discovered at the inner bailey and cleared

1836

Last record of manor court held at Whittington

1839

Tithe survey of Whittington

1841

Major fire destroys the farm buildings

1874

First OS map of Whittington

1970

Inner bailey excavated

1998

WCPT formed