In North Warwickshire, Astley Castle is a modest-looking moated fortified manor — but its history touches the heart of the English royal dynasties. The cradle of the Grey family, it is linked to three women who were queens or proclaimed queens, from the twilight of the Plantagenets to the thwarted dawn of the Tudors.
The manor of the Greys
Astley was the cradle of the powerful Grey family. Three female destinies attach to it, a generation apart. Elizabeth Woodville was the wife of Sir John Grey of Astley before becoming, by a second marriage, queen of England as wife of Edward IV. Her daughter, Elizabeth of York, married Henry VII and became the first Tudor queen — mother of Henry VIII, she sealed by her marriage the end of the Wars of the Roses. And the little moated house rebuilt by the Greys in 1555 was also linked to their most tragic descendant.
Lady Jane Grey, the nine-days' queen
The great-granddaughter of this line was Lady Jane Grey — proclaimed queen of England in July 1553, dethroned nine days later by Mary Tudor, then beheaded in 1554 at sixteen. Her father, Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, architect of this failed usurpation, was executed the same year, and the family then lost Astley. The castle thus became the memorial of a dynasty broken by its royal ambitions. Today, its Renaissance ruins incorporate an award-winning modern dwelling (RIBA Stirling Prize in 2013). To see: the Renaissance ruins incorporating a contemporary dwelling, the moated site, the fishponds and garden remains, the neighbouring church of St Mary (Grey tombs).
Did you know?
From a single Warwickshire manor came, over three generations, two crowned queens and a nine-days' queen. Astley thus links the end of the Plantagenets (Elizabeth Woodville), the founding of the Tudors (Elizabeth of York) and the drama of Lady Jane Grey. Rarely will so modest a house have been so intimately mixed with the destiny of the English crown — for better, then for worse.
Notes
Astley Castle lies at Astley, North Warwickshire; a ruin restored as Landmark Trust accommodation (the inserted modern dwelling is let; exteriors visible). Neighbouring church of St Mary. Access to check.
Quiz
- Of which family is Astley the cradle?
- The Greys
- The Dudleys
- The Tudors
- Which 'nine-days' queen' is linked to it?
- Lady Jane Grey
- Anne Boleyn
- Katherine Parr
- Which first Tudor queen descends from this house?
- Elizabeth of York
- Mary Stuart
- Catherine of Aragon