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On 17 February 1462, Sir William Hastings, the trusted friend of
the new Yorkist King, Edward IV, was granted the manor. The Hastings
were to bring fame and fortune to the town and have maintained an
unbroken link to the present day. In 1474, Sir William was given
royal licence to fortify the manor house and over the next decade
it was transformed into a magnificent castle - with its own chapel,
a large improved kitchen and the 90ft Great, or Hastings Tower.
The town became for a while the headquarters of the greatest man
in the kingdom after the King.
However, in the troubles that followed Edward IV's death in April
1483, Hastings was accused by the Lord Protector, the Duke of Gloucester,
of treason. He was executed at the Tower of London in June and his
lands forfeit. The family were not to suffer long as Gloucester,
now King Richard III, in turn met his death at Bosworth in August
1485. William's son Edward, regained all the family lands and thanks
to a beneficial marriage, added the Baronies of Hungerford, Botreaux
and Moleyns and huge estates in Wiltshire and the south-west of
England.
Edward's son George, succeeding to the titles in 1506, was much
more ambitious for the family fortunes; in 1509 he married Anne,
daughter of the illustrious Duke of Buckingham. A favourite of Henry
VIII, George regularly attended court, earning his King's gratitude,
a Privy Councillorship and the Earldom of Huntingdon in 1529. Further
prospects were opened up when his son, Francis married Katherine
Pole, a senior descendant of the Yorkist line. Francis succeeded
his father as second Earl, in 1544 and also frequented court. He
died in 1560 and his splendid alabaster table-tomb can be seen in
St Helen's Church.
The third Earl, Henry Hastings had to tread carefully as he had
been widely canvassed as the possible Protestant candidate for the
throne during Elizabeth I's near fatal illness from smallpox in
1562. The Queen's suspicions must have abated however, as he was
made joint custodian of the captive Mary, Queen of Scots in 1569.
Mary stayed at Ashby Castle on two occasions: in the last week of
November 1569, on her way from Tutbury Castle to Coventry; and for
the night of Thursday, 22 September 1586, on her last tragic journey
to Fotheringhay and execution. The third Earl, a strong believer
in Puritanism, made Ashby a major centre of protestantism and also
founded Ashby Boys' Grammar School on 10 August 1567, on firm puritan
principles.
Anne of Denmark, the wife of James I, visited the castle in 1603
on her way from York to London. The fifth Earl, who succeeded to
the title in June 1603, kept up the establishment at Ashby in the
style of princely magnificence. Upwards of 70 persons dined and
supped daily at his table. A splendid masque was staged in the castle
ground in August 1606, in honour of the first visit of the Countess
of Derby. In 1617, James I himself visited and the expenses were
so great as nearly to cripple the Earl's fortune.
In 1634 King Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria also imposed themselves
on the Earl with their suite. However, far worse was to come. With
the outbreak of the Civil War in 1642 the Earl's second son, Henry
Hastings, declared himself strongly for the King. Ashby Castle became
the headquarters of his 'Flying Army' and a vital link between the
Royalist south-west and north. The castle itself was strengthened
with outlying earthworks. Mount House, the triangular fort which
still exists on the Leicester Road, was built to protect the east
side of the castle from direct attack. Tunnels between this fort
and the main kitchen, between the kitchen and the Hastings Tower
(and probably others) were constructed to convey food, munitions
and men when necessary. Visits by Henrietta Maria, in June 1643
and by the King himself in May and June 1645 (after the disaster
of the Battle of Naseby) were a mixed blessing. As the Royalist
cause became hopeless the castle was more closely besieged between
September 1645 and its surrender in March 1646. Henry Hastings,
now Lord Loughborough, marched out with the honours of war but into
exile.
In 1648, Lord Grey, Hastings's great enemy, was appointed Governor
of the Castle and in November of the same year a parliamentary committee,
sitting in Leicester, ordered the slighting (partial demolition)
of the castle to render it useless for further defence. One wall
was mined in each of the great kitchen tower and the Hastings Tower.
It was enough. The Hastings family moved their main home to Donington
Park and the castle gradually fell into ruin, not helped by Ashbeians
wishing to improve their own residences!
Luckily for the locals and tourists, Sir Walter Scott, a frequent
visitor to Sir George Beaumont's home, Coleorton Hall, chose to
set part of this first romantic novel with an English setting at
Ashby. He placed the famous tournament, where the Black Knight and
Ivanhoe fought, a mile to the north of the town and imagined Prince
John holding 'high revelry' within the castle walls. Besides bringing
literary fame to Ashby, the publication of the novel in 1820 drew
attention to the forlorn state of the castle, and the first Marquis
of Hastings took steps for its greater preservation. Today, the
castle is cared for by English Heritage and is a popular venue for
special events as well as a marvellous place to visit at any time.
The Manor House, now a successful independent school, stands in
what was formerly the north courtyard of the castle. It was built
in 1832 as a residence for the first Marquis's agent, on the site
of Ashby Place, the home of the famous religious leader Selina,
Countess of Huntingdon.
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