Langley Castle

The Twelfth Century is when any record of Langley was first found, 200 years before the construction of Langley Castle. With Grey's expert experience he increased the Langley estate’s annual income by £15,000. Langley was bought and restored by a local historian, Cadwallader Bates, in 1882. Bates unexpectedly died in 1902 before the restoration of the Castle was finished. Bate's wife Josephine continued the restoration, and Langley castle was finally finished in 1914. After Josephine Bates died, in 1932 the building remained empty until it was used as a barracks in the Second World War, following which it was used as a girls' school. In the 1980s it was bought by the Robb family. In 1986, it was bought by Dr Stuart Madnick, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who converted it into a hotel. In 2022 he bought a seal that belonged to the first Baron of Langley, Adam de Tindal. == Architecture ==

Langley Castle is set in a woodland estate of 10 acres (40,000 m2). It was built in the middle of the 14th century by Sir Thomas de Lucy as an H-shaped tower of four storeys. It was originally built in 1350, but after the destructive fire of 1405 it lay in ruins for 500 years until Cadwallader Bates and his wife Josephine restored it in 1914. The building is a quadrangular castle, fully solid with no courtyard. It has a main central hall and is an example of an upper floor hall house design. Each corner of the castle has a major tower that is one storey above the main building. There is an extra tower that is flush with the level of the roof. This small pele-like structure has the original entrance to the castle connecting to the spiral staircase that leads to each floor. Langley Castle also has gigantic boulders that the walls are built on that serve as the foundation, making it difficult for an attempted break-in. Other additions added by Cadwallader Bates included increasing the size of the windows and putting a door on the south side of the castle. Another unique feature is the portcullis slot and roof boss near the main entrance on the wall of the east side of the castle. There are also dual moulded doorways between the first-floor hallway and the entrance to the lobby. The chapel now serves as the Cadwallader Bates Memorial Room. One of the more remarkable features of the building is the South-West tower, which is occupied by 12 garderobes (toilets), four to each floor. This was very uncommon to see in houses and castles at the time. Each stall had its own pointed archway. These garderobes are some of the most exceptional remaining within this type of architecture in all of Europe. Although lots of restoration went on in the 20th century, many of the original medieval designs and architecture remain throughout the castle. == See also ==