Welcome to Stafford Castle
There is access at all times to the castle grounds which is all you need to complete this cache and there is limited parking outside of the main car park if you visit out of hours. See below.
Please note the castle itself is not accessible at all times. (its locked after 3:30pm when we visited)
During the summer (April to October): The car park is open till from 7am till 8pm October.
During winter (November to March): The car park is open from 7am till 6pm.
The visitor centre is only open at weekends during the winter period mentioned above and from Wednesday till Sunday in the summer.
History
A wooden castle was originally built on the site at some time in the 1070s by the Norman lord Robert de Tosny who had been given a large amount of land in the area by William of Normandy in order to control and extract taxes from the native Anglo-Saxon community,with the Norman invasion of Wales impending, they needed all the money they could get. The invasion happened in 1081. The castle was build from wood with earth fortifications and stoodd atop a glacial deposit left by the last ice age.
Later, Ralph de Stafford contracted a master mason in 1347, ordering a stone castle to be built on the castle mound. The rectangular stone keep originally had a tower in each corner, but was later adapted, with a fifth tower being added on in the middle of the North Wall (actually facing west). Some three years later, Ralph, who had been one of the King's leading commanders in the first phases of the Hundred Years' War, was created first Earl of Stafford.
In 1444, Humphrey Stafford was given the title of Duke of Buckingham and the stone castle reached its heyday. Humphrey's grandson, Henry, had become a ward of the Yorkists following his death at the battle of Northampton in 1460. Henry was initially a supporter of Richard III, but later rebelled in favour of the aborted invasion of Henry Tudor (Henry VII) in 1483. Henry Stafford, second Duke of Buckingham paid with his life, but his son, Edward Stafford, escaped and was later restored to his lands by a grateful Henry VII. Edward Stafford's royal blood made him a threat to Henry VIII, who had him executed in 1521. The Stafford's Estate, which included the castle and its deer parks, was seized by the Crown. The King's auditors commented on the deer to be had in the parks and thought the castle might be a suitable stop-off on one of the King's progresses.
Stafford Castle, along with a small parcel of land, was restored to the Staffords, but they never regained the wealth or status of earlier years. Through lack of maintenance, the Keep fell into disrepair and in 1603, another Edward Stafford wrote a letter in which he referred to 'My rotten castle of Stafford.
During the early phases of the Civil War it was defended by Lady Isobel Stafford, a staunch Roman Catholic and Royalist. The Parliamentarians had captured Stafford on 15 May 1643, following a brief siege, but some of its garrison escaped and held Stafford Castle, with the hope of using it as a bridgehead to recapture the town. Colonel William Brereton rode up to the castle with some of his men and called upon Lady Stafford to surrender, which she refused. In response 'some of the poor outhouses were set on fire to try whether these would work their spirits to any relenting. All in vain, for from the castle they shot some of the men and horses which did much to enrage and provoke the rest to a fierce revenge. Almost all the dwelling houses and outhouses were burnt to the ground. The siege was raised when Colonel Hastings led a relief column which arrived on 5 June. Lady Isobel was eventually persuaded to leave, a small garrison remaining to defend the castle against a renewed siege. Finally, in late June, the Royalist garrison fled, having heard of information that a large Parliamentarian army was approaching, complete with a number of siege cannons capable of easily overwhelming the small garrison that remained. The castle then fell into Parliamentarian control in which it stayed until its demolition. On 22 December that year, the Parliamentarian Committee of Stafford, ordered: "the Castle shall be forthwith demolished."
By the 1790s only a single low wall remained to be seen above ground, and that was at risk of falling. Some workmen employed to underpin this wall discovered the buried castle basements and foundations, which ran off from the wall. Realising the likely extent of these basements, and the possibility of treasures within, they brought their discovery to the attention of Sir William Jerningham. Jerningham immediately ordered all the foundations and basements to be uncovered, and the whole mound to be cleared of overgrowth.
The castle was partly rebuilt in the Gothic Revival Style from 1813. Yet this work was soon discontinued partly through the lack of funds, and also because the Jerningham family were elevated to the peerage (one of their motives for the restoration project). Dubbed by some as a 'folly', this was never the case, as the Keep was always intended to be lived in, and was occupied well into the 20th century when, in the immediate post-war years the mature woodland that surrounded the castle was felled, which may have led to the structure being exposed to high winds. By 1949 large pieces of masonry had begun to fall from the towers, which were declared unsafe. Mr and Mrs Stokes, the last caretakers of the castle and its grounds, vacated the building that winter. The site became a target for vandals and in 1961 Lord Stafford gave the Keep to the local authority.
To log this cache
Take the left fork of the path behind the visitor centre and follow this up the hill. You will end up at the castle, but will pass the waypoints needed to answer the questions below
Email us the following answers to these questions:
At stage 1: Name 2 of the flora listed on the information board?
At stage 2: The original stump is gone but very close by there is a rotting log with a date carved into it. What is that date?
At stage 3: Name 2 animals pictured on the information board?
At stage 4: What is the third word in the text in the main blue box on the information board?
At the final stage: What is on the horizon, exactly due East according to the compass you find at this location?
Additional, please post a picture of you or your GPS either inside the castle or with it in the background.
Virtual Rewards 2.0 - 2019/2020
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between June 4, 2019 and June 4, 2020. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 2.0 on the Geocaching Blog.