http://gray-adamsfamily.blogspot.com/2016/10/references-stephensstevens-genealogy.html Blog Post: References: Stephens/Stevens Genealogy. (pg 9) The Fitz Stephen family came over with William the Conqueror, and were feudal barons in Gloucestershire from the reign of King Henry II, first of the Plantagenets’. In that reign Ralph Fitz Stephen, Baron of Wapley, and his brother William, afterwards Chief Justice of the Circuit Court of England, were jointly High Sheriffs of the shire, a position then of such influence that there was effort to make it hereditary in the noble families... At different times the manors of Wapley, Winterbourne, Lewynesmede, Eastington, Alkerton, Fretherne, Lypiatt Park, Little Sodbury, Chavenage, Bisley, Horton, Cherington and Alderley have been seats of the family in Gloucestershire, with estates in other counties.
History of Gloucestershire -
Map, 1832
Gloucestershire formed part of Harold’s earldom at the time of the Norman Conquest of England.
In The Anarchy (1135-54) of King Stephen’s (of Blois) reign (1135-54) the cause of the Empress Matilda was supported by her half brother, Robert of Gloucester, who had rebuilt the castle at Bristol. The castles at Gloucester and Cirencester were also garrisoned on her behalf. Beverston Castle was also a site of the Stephen Matilda conflict.
In the baron’s war of the reign of Henry III. (1216-1272), Gloucester was garrisoned by Simon de Montfort, but was captured by Prince Edward in 1265, in which year de Montfort was slain at Evesham.
Bristol and Gloucester actively supported the Yorkist cause during the Wars of the Roses.
In the religious struggles of the 16th century Gloucester showed strong Protestant sympathy, and in the reign of Mary, Bishop Hooper was sent to Gloucester to be burnt as a warning to the county.
The same Puritan leanings induced the county to support the Parliamentary cause in the civil war of the 17th century. In 1643 Bristol and Cirencester were captured by the Royalists, but the latter was recovered in the same year and Bristol in 1645. Two Civil War battles were fought at Beverston Castle, and Parliament ordered its battlements destroyed to deprive the Royalists use of the fortress. Gloucester was garrisoned for the Parliament throughout the struggle.
List of Castles in Gloucestershire
In the final years before the outbreak of the civil war of the Anarchy, the Gloucesters were extensively developing their primary castle at Gloucester. Gloucester was a key battleground in the conflict from 1139–53 between the rival rulers of Stephen (King of England) and Empress Matilda. Warfare in England at the time centred on castles and attrition warfare and the largely pro-Angevin supporters of Matilda in Gloucestershire responded with a rush of castle-building. Many of these were destroyed by Stephen during the war, or after the conflict when Henry II attempted to restore royal control over these critical fortifications, although recent scholarship has indicated that less Gloucestershire castles were destroyed in the 1150s than once thought. In the 13th and 14th century, fortified manor houses became a more popular form of fortification. By the 16th century, most Gloucestershire castles were in disuse, although some, such as Gloucester and St Briavels remained in use as administrative centres or gaols. Several castles in Gloucestershire were damaged or slighted in the English Civil War from 1642–9. In the 18th and 19th century, prison reform brought an end to the use of Gloucestershire castles as gaols, leaving only a handful of occupied castles as private homes in the 21st century.
Some Gloucestershire Castles: Berkeley Castle, St Briavels Castle, Sudeley, Winchcombe.
Decline: The defences were kept in full repair until the mid 15th century. It is likely that in the reign of Richard III the castle ceased to be maintained as a fortress, continuing in use only as the county goal. Much of the stonework of the castle was taken to construct roads and other buildings and by the mid 17th century all the buildings around the curtain wall had apparently gone, leaving only the keep, used as the gaol, and the main gatehouse standing. Demolition of the gaol began in 1787 and the new gaol was finished in 1791 leaving no visible remains of the castle.
The Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society -Volume (1-133) Browse. Contents for volume 1 (1876)
Berkeley Castle… Society Pages… Notes on the Tombs in Tewkesbury Abbey… Vestiges of the Supremacy of Mercia in the South of England, during the 8th Century… On the Great Berkeley Law-Suit of the 15th and 16th Centuries, A Chapter of Gloucestershire History… St. Briavels Castle… On the Earls of Gloucester… On the Landholders of Gloucestershire named in Domesday Book… Church of St. Michael and All Angels, Bishop’s Cleeve, Gloucestershire [Memorials of the de la Bere family appear in the church at Cleeve.]… Transactions in Bristol… Proceedings at Stroud… Tewkesbury Abbey Church… The Berkeley Manuscripts……..
The Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society
Notes on Chavenage and the Stephens Family
The Builder of Southam and some Deeds Connected with the Estate
Original Documents relating to Bristol
A service for the dead: form and function of the anniversary in late medieval Bristol
http://www.bgas.org.uk/ The Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society -home page - about us - publications *slide show: Gloucester Cathedral…
https://archive.org/details/transactionsbris18bris Transactions of Bristol and Gloucester Archaeological Society 1893-94. Digital Book, Full Text.
The Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society - Browse…
http://www.bgas.org.uk/publications/general.html The Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society - Search Page…
https://www.researchgate.net/journal/0068-1032_Transactions-Bristol_and_Gloucestershire_Archaeological_Society_Bristol_and_Gloucestershire_Archaeological_Society Transactions -Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaelogical Sociaety - Articles… An Account of the founding of the first Gloucestershire County Asylum, now Horton Road Hosptial, 1792-1823.
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