Geoffrey de Clinton, Chamberlain and Treasurer to King Henry I, was granted Kenilworth around 1119. However, the initial phase of the construction of Kenilworth Castle and Priory took place over several years. The buildings were ready for completion by October 1125, for this is when Geoffrey obtained confirmation for his new foundation from the king who at the time was on the other side of the English Channel in Normandy. The building of a strong castle was first and foremost a means of defence. It also served as an important status symbol.
The location of Kenilworth Castle was well chosen, offering great potential for extensive water defences much resembling the family castle at Semilly, Normandy. There may even have been an earlier defensive structure on the site as far back as Roman times. However, since the construction of Kenilworth Castle by Geoffrey de Clinton in 1124-5, it was Norman architecture that dominated the English landscape.
Geoffrey de Clinton, Chamberlain and Treasurer, probably also created the mere at Kenilworth around the same time he founded his castle. Archaeological evidence suggests that the size of the mere was expanded by later occupants of the castle. Water defences were also to play an important roll at Geoffrey's much smaller castle at Brandon in Wolston located eight miles north east of Kenilworth.
The Great Mere was a defensive expanse of water that surrounded much of the castle and was also known as the Great Pool. This feat of 12th Century Anglo-Norman engineering was achieved by damming the water from two streams, Finham Brook and Inchford Brook. The mere defended the castle to the south and west and was half a mile long and in places up to five hundred yards wide. The remaining sides of the castle was defended by a moat.
The vast majority of castles built in England by the Normans in the first half of the 12th Century consisted of a motte and bailey. In such cases all original buildings and defences would have been constructed in timber. However, Kenilworth Castle may have been one of the notable exceptions to this rule. The square stone Keep at Kenilworth Castle measured externally 80 feet from east to west, and 60 feet from north to south. The walls were 20 feet thick, battering to 14 feet 6 inches at a height of 10 feet, up to which height the whole wall was filled with solid earth.
Without the de Clinton family, Kenilworth would have remained a sleepy backwater to the nearby town of Warwick, much like its neighbouring villages, and would not be the thriving market town it is today. For it was the founding of Kenilworth Castle and Park, together with the founding of the Augustinian Priory dedicated to St Mary the Virgin by Geoffrey de Clinton, that provided the bulk of employment for both local as well as itinerant workers.
The tradesmen employed in the construction of the castle and priory needed somewhere to live and there was no safer and more practical place to live than in the shadow of an imposing Norman Keep. For decades following the foundation of the castle and priory, tradesmen and artisans would have flocked to Kenilworth from miles around. Work on the castle and priory would have ensued for six days a week, apart from on a Sunday when all souls present would have attended Holy Mass whilst resting from their labours on the Sabbath day.
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