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Sir Ralph Sadler's Plans of 1585
Sir Ambrose Cave's survey of 1562
To re-create Tutbury Castle in 3D throughout the stages of history, the main source of information is from the book “Tutbury: A Castle Firmly Built” (Hislop, Kincey & Williams, 2011) which contains findings of many archaeological studies at the site from 1915 to 2011, and an in depth study of all the accounts, histories and excavations at the site. It also contains many references to other publications throughout the book. For the most part the academic publication appears reliable, with lots of facts backed up by other historical publications; however there are a few discrepancies between what is written in the study and a few images of the castle, which are listed below.
Above is a drawing of the castle by Sir Ambrose Cave during a survey in 1562 (Hislop et al., 2011, p.6). Not much else is known about this drawing.
One of the problems with this drawing is the artist could not draw in perspective very well so some liberties have been taken. There are also many discrepancies between the ruins and this drawing, the main one being the depiction of the South tower. The depiction of the gatehouse is fairly accurate judging by the existing ruin as pictured below so it shows some truths. Some of the other parts are a little less accurate, such as the North Tower as shown in the foreground. The depiction is pretty accurate for the most part, showing the large rectangular windows and small tower protruding from the top right side. The problem with this depiction of the North tower is that it shows another floor above the curtain wall doorway. It is known by examining the surviving structure that the curtain wall went up to the top floor, above which is the moulded parapet band and the parapets. There are no windows above the door. Perhaps there were small drains from the parapet level; there is no way of knowing. The next problem is the depiction of the South Tower. It shows the large window quite clearly, however there is only one drawn. Where is the second? It certainly existed at the time of the drawing. Either the drawing is an unreliable source or perhaps it was obscured from view from the artist. The latter seems more plausible as the plans in Sir Ralph Sadler’s survey of 1585 shows a range of buildings by which the west side of the tower could have been hidden. If this is true then this drawing could be the best indication of what the castle actually looked like in the 15th and 16th Centuries.
Click the link above to find two plans drawn by Sir Ralph Sadler during an inspection in 1585. These particular plans were sourced from Richard Kelleher upon request and the originals are kept at the British Museum. These are the plans used when creating his artist interpretations of Tutbury Castle. They show the castle as it was during one of the stays by Mary Queen of Scots. As much as this is a valuable source of information, unfortunately most of the writing is illegible and the layout confusing. It is clear that the first plan is of the ground floor and the second the upper, but matching the two together is problematic and does not make sense. What it does show however, is that the South Tower was connected to the East Range via a curved passage. Perhaps this connected where a doorway was cut from the North face of the tower as shown below.
This is a detailed assessment of research carried out in the Park Pale which is an outer line of embankments to the south of the castle, towards the Forest of Needwood, and also of modern excavations within the Castle precincts which have revealed that the Norman occupiers of the site came relatively late in terms of the total history of the site. It also describes the prominence that Tutbury Castle assumed during the imprisonment of Mary Queen of Scots and its deterioration as a fortified position from the Civil War period.
It contains many diagrams of excavations and in depth anaylisis of the results. Included arte lots of publication references. By far the best source of information for this project courtesy of the British Museum and University of Birmingam.
Click the link above for a full list of references.
Tutbury: A Castle Firmly Built
By Malcolm Hislop, Mark Kinsey and Garath Williams
