[blam]

"...still inhabited and owned by the same family who were granted the castle in 1156."

Absolutely amazing.

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[WoofDog123]

I actually find the claim questionable...given the tremendous political turmoil at many points along english history, it seems improbable, if not downright impossible, that it wouldn't have been removed from local control at some point or other, probably many times.

[ArmedNReady]

"...still inhabited and owned by the same family who were granted the castle in 1156."
Absolutely amazing.


If it were here in the USA, the castle would have been lost to estate taxes or emminent domain.

[Leg Olam]

'Severn Vale'

Is that close to Hogwarts?

[GladesGuru]

I'd say that family exemplifies property rights practioners. Nearly a thousand years at the old family home has got to be some sort of record.

[LexBaird]

still inhabited and owned by the same family who were granted the castle in 1156.

Boy, they must be really old now...

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam. That's some cool family history for the owners, as well. They're descended (apparently) from some follower of Henry II. Medieval history ping for GGG.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[bannie]

I think we must be cousins...I'm packing my bags to go to "the old family homestead."

LOL!

[mollynme]

Looks like they lost possession a few times but eventually got it back.

[ZULU]

Yes.

The Wars of the Roses, Henry VIII's religious reformation,
the English Civil Wars, the Restoration, the expulsion of James II. They certainly were an adroit bunch to keep their holdings for so long.

I wonder how many others did so and if any family exceeded their success at maintaining their property?

[GoLightly]

Because of 1156, I wondered if the former owner had backed Stephen of Blois. Instead, I find that a merchant from Bristol bought the grounds from Maud's half-brother, Robert of Gloucester & he was granted rights to the estate after Maud's son, Henry II rose to the throne.

http://home.freeuk.net/bgas/record.htm

"In the reign of Henry V, a lawsuit was commenced between Lord Berkeley and his cousin, the heiress of the family, which was continued 192 years."

http://www.britannia.com/history/castles/berkeley.html

A civil suit lasting 192 years is what I find to be absolutely amazing. LOL

It is claimed that the castle is where Edward II met his gruesome end. Almost makes you wonder what the family has in their private records.

[Natural Law]

So do you think the mortgage is paid off by now?

[Plutarch]

Sir William Berkeley was immensely important in U.S. history. He helped recruit displaced nobles to come to Virginia to form plantations, which established the culture of Virginia, and later the South.

Sir William Berkeley, Berkeley, Sir William, 1606–77, colonial governor of Virginia. Appointed governor in 1641, he arrived in Virginia in 1642. Berkeley defeated the Native Americans and the Dutch, extended explorations, and encouraged agriculture, but so persecuted dissenters that many of them left the colony. An uncompromising royalist, he made Virginia a haven for supporters of Charles I and declined to recognize the Commonwealth. Berkeley was deposed by a Puritan force from England in 1652 and lived quietly on his Virginia plantation until the Restoration in 1660, when he was reappointed governor. His second term as governor was marred by great domestic discontent and strife. A drop in tobacco prices brought great economic suffering to the colony. At the same time it was charged that Berkeley was showing favoritism toward a small group of friends and depriving the freemen of their rights. When, in addition, Berkeley refused to take the measures demanded by the frontiersmen for protection against the Native Americans, Bacon's Rebellion broke out. Temporarily forced to flee, Berkeley regained power after Bacon's premature death and ordered the hanging of many of Bacon's followers. The executions were carried out in defiance of a royal commission that had arrived with pardon for all except Bacon. Finally he yielded to the commission's order that he return to England, where he died discredited.

[Drammach]

. It is possible that this settlement was located on a small ridge of high ground, to be visible from the river Severn, and might even had been located to help prehistoric navigation up the Berkeley Pill."

A good place to check in any area..
A high point, be it ridge or promontory, would be the ideal point to place markers, affording travelers directions, and an overview of the surrounding terrain for the following day's travels..