Castle documented during C12 and in ruins by the mid C16. The castle was in existence by circa 1140 but its importance probably declined when the De Montfort estates passed to the Earl of Warwick circa 1369. It was again mentioned in a roll account of 1411, but was not mentioned in a survey of 1547. Earthwork features include fish ponds and bailey, ridge and furrow also present. The extant remains of the castle consist of a flat topped oval artificial mound surrounded by a ditch, covering an area of about 2 acres; a raised bank of earth crossing the ditch to the south-west connects this moated 'keep' with its accompanying courtyard. Excavation by Time Team found Norman masonry castle was demolished and later replaced by C13 buildings. Sometimes said to have been licenced in 1306 (TimeTeam, for instance, broadcast this erroneous statement) and I suspect some sources may give building dates based on this error, but this licence refers to Beaudesert Hall, Staffordshire.

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Name	Beaudesert Castle, Henley
Alternative Names	The Mount
Historic County	Warwickshire
Civil Parish	Beaudesert
Type	Timber Castle Masonry Castle
Confidence	Certain
Remains	Earthworks
Listed	Not listed
Scheduled Ancient Monument	Yes
Ordnance Survey Reference	SP156661
Eastings	415600
Northing	266130
Images of England Reference
PastScape Reference	331123
Historic Environment Record	1220

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Books

• Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses Vol2 (Cambridge) p343
• Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p255
• Salter, Mike, 1993, Midlands Castles (Birmingham) p30
• Salter, Mike, 1992, Castles and Moated Mansions of Warwickshire (Malvern) p18
• King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p481
• Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p185
• Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
• Pevsner, Nikolaus and Wedgwood, Alexandra, 1966, The buildings of England: Warwickshire p89
• Cooper W., 1946, Henley in Arden p77
• Salzman, L.F. (ed), 1945, VCH Warwickshire Vol3 p45-46
• Cooper, 1931, Records of Beaudesert (Leeds) p.xxii-xxiv
• Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
• Willoughby Gardner, 1904, in Doubleday, H.A. and Page, Wm (eds), VCH Warwickshire Vol1 p355-7
• Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol1 p351

Antiquarian

• William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/warkseng.html#warks10]

Journals

• Coulson, C., 1994, 'Freedom to Crenellate by Licence - An Historiographical Revision' Nottingham Medieval Studies Vol38 p130
• Hooke, D., 1984, ‘Henley in Arden (Warwickshire): Beaudesert part II' West Midlands Archaeology Vol27 p63–4
• 1975, West Midlands Archaeology p18-9
• King, D.J.C. and Alcock, L., 1969, 'Ringworks in England and Wales' Château Gaillard Vol3 p90-127
• Chatwin, P.B., 1947-8, 'Castles in Warwickshire' Transactions of the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society Vol67 p20-2

Primary Sources

• Rickard, John, 2002, The Castle Community. The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 (Boydell Press) [lists sources for 1272-1422] p452-3

Unpublished

• Time Team (Mike Aston et al), 2002 March 17 (1st broadcast), 'Beaudesert Warwickshire' Time Team TV Programme (Time Team, a Videotext/Picture House production for Channel 4)