Beaumys Castle
castle in Swallowfield, Berkshire, England, UK
Beaumys Castle, also known as Beams Castle, was a 14th-century fortified manor house in the parish of Swallowfield in the English county of Berkshire.
History
Beaumys Castle was a manor in the parish of Swallowfied, given to Sir Nicholas de la Beche in 1335. De la Beche received a licence to crenellate in 1338 and produced a fortified manor house. The castle was rectangular, protected by earthworks approximately 130m by 110m across, surrounded by a water-filled moat, with the castle accessed from an entrance to the north-west.
De la Beche died, leaving the manor to his wife Margery, who in turn remarried, to Thomas Arderne. On Arderne's death in 1347, however, John de Dalton and a small group of followers broke into the castle, where they killed Michael de Poynings, an important nobleman; terrified Lionel, the son of Edward III who was staying there at the time; stole £1,000 worth of goods, and seized Margaret, who, as a wealthy widow, was forced to marry John.
The surrounding manor was broken up in 1420; the surviving earthworks are a scheduled monument.
See also
Castles in Great Britain and Ireland
List of castles in England
Bibliography
MacKenzie, James Dixon. (1896/2009) The Castles of England: Their Story and Structure. General Books LLC. ISBN 978-1-150-51044-1.
The public source identifies “Beaumys Castle” as castle in Swallowfield, Berkshire, England, UK. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Beaumys, Castle and castle.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Beaumys Castle”, the useful work is to connect “castle in Swallowfield, Berkshire, England, UK” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4877605. Authority coordinates are 51.376, -0.981. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1335, 1338, 1347 and 1420.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Beaumys Castle”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Beaumys Castle primary sources, Beaumys Castle archive and Beaumys research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Beaumys Castle”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Beaumys Castle” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.