Dudley Castle

Dudley Castle was erected after 1070 and it was likely that the hill that the castle was built on which was part of Dudley was taken into the estate of Sedgley as that was the property of the king. The first castle to be built was a motte and bailey structure; an earthen mound topped with a timber tower, surrounded by a defensive timber palisade fence. The earliest lord was the Norman Sheriff of Buckingham, a man called Ansculf of Picquigny who was created a baron of a large number estates in the West Midlands. He had died by the time the Domesday Book had been collated in 1086 and been replaced by William fitz Ansculf, his son.

Paganel

The family who succeeded the Ansculf's were the Paganel's. Ralph Paganel reconstructed the castle in stone, which was just as well as in the civil war called 'The Anarchy' it was attacked by King Stephen who failed to get in. Ralph's son, who was called Gervase, succeded him and built the Borough (town) of Dudley and St James's Priory. Some of the stone work in the castle belongs to this phase. Ralph was a friend of Stephen's successor King Henry IInd and Henry signed a number of documents at Dudley Castle. But Henry grew rather embittered in his old age and Gervase joined a failed coup against him, the results of which was that the defences of the castle were ordered to be demolished by the king.

Somery

Gervase went to live in Buckinghamshire where he had a number of valuable estates and never returned to Dudley. His daughter married a de Somery, but one of the heirs to the estate married an illegitimate daughter of King John and although her husband died young she held on to the family estate. It was Roger de Somery I who returned to Dudley in the early 1230's, but it was his son Roger II who began to fortify the castle. This occurred during the problems with Simon de Montfort when the king had great opposition from his barons. Roger supported King Henry III, though this did not stop the king from sending the Sheriff of Worcester along when Roger began to repair the castles defences without a licence.

The Civil War ended for the king and Roger was rewarded for his faithfulness by being allowed to continue re-building the castle. The Keep on the Motte top was a design of Roger's. It was quite strange as that design was very old fashioned when it was built. The main gateway with its portcullis's and huge doors was also constructed as was the Great Hall and Chapel Complex. The chapel was finished off at the end of the Somery's role as Lords of Dudley.

Sutton

John de Somery had no children but his sister married a John de Sutton and that family followed as as barons of Dudley. Their main claim to fame was that members periodically went over to France to fight and were killed. They also tended to have the same name. John Sutton VI was probably the most important of the Suttons. His skill was not fighting (he was captured twice in the Wars of the Roses) but as a diplomat. He practiced his skill for both sides during the war and was rewarded with lands and property. It was he who had the Kitchen complex built as an extention to the Keep.

The estate of the barony had been split into two and therefore the Sutton family were often short of money. One way they got round this was mortgaging their property. When the French Wars came to an end they had no way of overcoming their financial problems and by the 1530's they were bankrupt. A distant cousin of John Sutton VII, Sir John Dudley (younger sons of the family nearly always adopted the name Dudley), began to pick up his debts and lend cash to John VII. In 1537 Sir John purchased what ever John Sutton had left.

Dudley

Sir John Dudley was very ambitious and a firm favourite at the Court of King Henry VIII. From 1541 he began to collect titles: Viscount Lisle, Privy Councillor, Knight of the Garter, Earl of Warwick, Chamberlain, Duke of Northumberland and Lord Protector. In the 1550's he had enough money to start a massive building project at Dudley Castle. The 'architect' was Sir William Sharrington and the design was the new Rennaisance style. He constructed a barbican on the what was now the Triple Gateway. The North Gateway and a range of buildings all the way round to the Great Chamber complex was built in the new style. The centre of the range was the entrance to the Great Hall with a grand staircase leading from ground level up onto a covered Loggia. To gain entry to the hall itself was through the two towers on either side of the Loggia.

Sutton

Sir John's ambition led to him marrying his son to Lady Jane Grey and then attempting to make them king and queen of England. He failed in this and was beheaded by order of Queen Mary. For awhile the lands of the barony were held by the Queen but she gave them back to John VII's son , Edward in 1553. Edward was a Roman Catholic and therefore Queen Elizabeths Ist visit to the castle in 1575 was probably partly to check up on his loyalty. Although it was thought of as a place to imprison Mary, Queen of Scots her jailor wisely thought that she would be safer somewhere else.

Ward

The Suttons problems with money continued until William Ward, a London Jeweller, did a Sir John Dudley and picked up their mortgages. By the 1620's they owned all the barony lands. It was only the marriage of his son to Francis Sutton that the family retained any control over their own property. It was at this juncture that the English Civil War started. The castle was taken over by the Roylists who fortified it. Although two sieges occurred the defending force eventually surrendered it in 1646. The keep and curtain walls were partially demolished by order of parliament. This also brought down a number of other structures around the castle.

The castle still continued to be occasionally used till 1750, when a huge fire burnt it out to a shell. The Ward's were not interested in rebuilding it, preferring to re-build their main home Himley Hall. So the castle lapsed into being a romatic ruin. The role it still retains to the present day

There are many ghosts that haunt the castle including the Grey Lady and the evil black monk. Staff have seen him a number of times in the past few years, his presence felt throughout the castle and he sends shivers down the backs of visitors as he passes by.

CEPI have investigated Dudley Castle on many occasions go to the CEPI FORUM to read past investigation reports.

The Galleries of Justice is well known as one of the coutry's most haunted locations.

The museum is housed in Shire Hall a listed building and this historic site - in the heart of the City`s Lace Market - was in use as courts and prisons from the 1780s to the 1980s - although there has been a court on the site since at least 1375 and a prison since 1449.

Over the centuries, thousands of people have entered the building with a sense of dread for their future - as many would have been imprisoned, sentenced, and sometimes, even publicly executed on the gallows of the front steps ...

The CEPI team have investigated the Galleries of Justice numerous times and highly recommend a visit!

400 years ago the land on which the club now stands was the alms houses, and in more recent times during the 19th century the building was the towns' post office.

It became the Constitutional Club in 1905 when it was refurbished by Baron Burton and other wealthy brewers.

It is almost like walking back in time 100 years as the club still has all it's original Victorian features.

There have been several reports of paranormal activity over the years ranging from items left in locked rooms mysteriously disappearing and reappearing, to sightings of a grey figure and strange temperature fluctuations in some rooms.