Winchcombe, Gloucestershire - Sudeley Castle - Aerofilms RP postcard c.1950s

• Postcard

   

• Picture / Image:  Sudeley Castle, Winchcombe [Gloucestershire] [from the air]
• Publisher:  Aerofilms Ltd., Boreham Woods, Herts.
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

Please ask if you need any other information and I will do the best I can to answer.

Image may be low res for illustrative purposes - if you need a higher definition image then please contact me and I may be able to send one. No cards have been trimmed (unless stated).

------------------------------------------------

Postage & Packing:

Postage and packing charge should be showing for your location (contact if not sure).

No additional charges for more than one postcard. You can buy as many postcards from me as you like and you will just pay the fee above once. Please wait for combined invoice. (If buying postcards with other things such as books, please contact or wait for invoice before paying).

Payment Methods:

UK - PayPal, Cheque (from UK bank) or postal order

Outside UK: PayPal ONLY (unless otherwise stated) please.   NO non-UK currency checks or money orders (sorry).

NOTE: All postcards are sent in brand new stiffened envelopes which I have bought for the task. These are specially made to protect postcards and you may be able to re-use them. In addition there are other costs to sending so the above charge is not just for the stamp!

I will give a full refund if you are not fully satisfied with the postcard.

----------------------------------------------

Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

*************

Sudeley Castle & Gardens is a castle located in the Cotswolds near Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, England. The present structure was built in the 15th century and may have been on the site of a 12th-century castle. The castle has a notable garden, which is designed and maintained to a very high standard. The chapel, St. Mary's Sudeley, is the burial place of Queen Catherine Parr (1512–1548), the sixth wife of King Henry VIII, and contains her marble tomb. Unusually for a castle chapel, St Mary's of Sudeley is part of the local parish of the Church of England. Sudeley is also one of the few castles left in England that is still a residence. As a result, the castle is only open to visitors on specific dates, and private family quarters are closed to the public. It is a Grade I listed building (first listed in 1960),^[1] and recognised as an internationally important structure.^[2] In March 2014 the castle opened up more private rooms, including some that had never previously been open to the public, and devised a new route through the castle and gardens.^[3]

A castle may have been built on the site during the reign of King Stephen (1135–1154).^[4] In 1442, Ralph Boteler who was created Baron Sudeley by Henry VI of England, built the current castle on its present site using what he had earned fighting in the Hundred Years' War. He built quarters for servants and men at arms on the double courtyard that was surrounded by a moat. He also added state and family apartments on the second courtyard. The Chapel, which would become St. Mary's, and the tithe barn were also built under Boteler.

In 1469, Edward IV of England confiscated the castle from Boteler and gave it to his brother, the Duke of Gloucester, who later became Richard III of England. Richard used the castle as a base for the Battle of Tewkesbury. The Duke would later exchange this property for Richmond Castle making Sudeley property of the crown. Ownership returned to Richard when he became king in 1483. During his reign the Banqueting Hall with oriel windows and the adjoining state rooms, now in ruins, were built in place of the eastern range of Boteler’s inner court as part of a royal suite.

After Richard's death at the Battle of Bosworth, Sudeley passed to the new king, Henry VII, who then gave it to his uncle, Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford. By the time Henry VIII succeeded to the throne, the castle was the property of the Crown again. In 1535, Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn visited the castle, which had been empty and unattended for some time.

When King Henry died, the castle became the property of his son, Edward VI of England, who gave it to his uncle, Thomas Seymour who he made Baron of Sudeley. In early Spring 1547, Thomas married Edward's stepmother, the Dowager Queen Catherine Parr. At the announcement of her pregnancy in late 1547, Thomas began to renovate the castle for Catherine's use, but only one room that he built remains today. Lord Seymour and Queen Catherine decided that Catherine should move to Sudeley for the final months of her pregnancy. At about six months, Catherine was accompanied by Lady Jane Grey and a large retinue of ladies to attend on her, as well as over one hundred gentlemen of the household and Yeomen of the guard. Catherine's sister, Lady Pembroke, also came and attended upon her as her chief lady and groom of the stool. Catherine would give birth to her daughter, Lady Mary Seymour, on 30 August 1548 only to die on 5 September of that year. Catherine was buried in the Chapel. Her grave was discovered in 1728 after the castle and the chapel had been left in ruins by the English Civil War. She was later reinterred by the Rector of Sudeley in 1817 and an elaborate tomb was erected in her honour.

In 1549, Seymour's ambitions led him to being arrested and beheaded; after which, Sudeley Castle became the property of Catherine's brother, William Parr, Marquess of Northampton. After Parr's involvement with the plot to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne, he was stripped of his property and title by Queen Mary. Parr would regain his titles under Queen Elizabeth but the Castle remained property of John Brydges, 1st Baron Chandos.

In 1554, Queen Mary gave Sudeley Castle to John Brydges, 1st Baron Chandos, and it remained his property throughout the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It was at Sudeley that Queen Elizabeth was entertained three times and in 1592 a spectacular three-day feast to celebrate the anniversary of the defeat of the Spanish Armada was held.