KENILWORTH Castle painting by CartwrightCreates (local artist)
KENILWORTH CASTLE TRAIL A
This is the first cache in this trail. This cache contributes clues to KENILWORTH Castle Trail Bonus GCA4TJA.
THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER
Immediately after the surrender, Henry III gave de Montfort’s castle, land and titles to his second son, Prince Edmund (1245–96), who had been a commander during the siege. Edmund subsequently became the 1st Earl of Lancaster, and accumulated the vast collection of lands that would form the duchy. Kenilworth remained in the hands of this branch of the royal family for a century. In 1303 Edmund’s son Thomas (d.1322), the 2nd Earl, acquired rights that allowed him to enclose a vast hunting park south and west of the mere. He also had a chapel built between 1314 and 1322.
Estranged from his first cousin Edward II (r.1307–27) early in the century, Thomas was in outright rebellion against him by the 1320s. After his capture and execution in 1322, Kenilworth was briefly back in royal hands. Yet it was here only four years later that Edward was held prisoner by Thomas’s brother Henry (1326–45), 3rd Earl of Lancaster, and forced to relinquish the throne.
Thanks to English Heritage for information - extracted from their website.