A Peripatetic Kingship:  A Look at King John of England’s Castle Movements in 1215

Historians agree that King John of England was the most peripatetic of all English monarchs.  When traveling with his army, King John’s baggage train of wagons and horse-drawn carts stretched over 2 miles in length, moving at an average pace of 20 miles a day.  Distances traveled not only depended upon the state of the roads and weather but the weight of these wagons and carts which included a portable chapel for worship and a portable treasury of silver pennies packed into barrels.

Unraveling the Fortress Tapestry of King John's Realm

Just as important were the locations of King John’s castles.  Indeed, King John, my 25th great-grandfather, through three of his legitimate children and two of his illegitimate children owned 72 castles and a dozen royal hunting lodges.

His royal and private castles included:

• Beaumont Castle
• Bristol Castle
• Cambridge Castle
• Canterbury Castle
• Carlisle Castle
• Corfe Castle
• Dover Castle
• Exeter Castle
• Hertford Castle
• Kenilworth Castle
• Knaresborough Castle
• Lancaster Castle
• Marlborough Castle
• Norham Castle
• Northampton Castle
• Nottingham Castle
• Odiham Castle
• Oxford Castle
• Scarborough Castle
• Winchester Castle
• Windsor Castle

And his royal hunting lodges included:

• Great Tangley Manor in Wonersh, Surrey
• “King’s Houses” in Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire
• Cranborne Manor in the Forest of Cranborne Chase in Dorset
• St. Briavels Castle in the Forest of the Dean in Gloucestershire
• Thundersley Lodge in the Great Forest of Essex
• Ludgershall Castle in the Forest of Braydon in Wiltshire

The March to Runnymede: King John's Perilous Journey and the Birth of the 'Three Castles Path'

In June of 1215, King John found himself on the brink of a civil war with his 'Barons.' Hence, the journey that King John undertook to meet with the ‘Barons’ at Runnymede prompted him to travel north easterly from Winchester Castle to his recently built Odiham Castle and then onwards to Windsor Castle – located only 3 miles away from Runnymede.  Today this 60-mile footpath is known as the ‘Three Castles Path’ inspired by King John’s movements across Hampshire and Berkshire the week before affixing his seal on the Magna Carta.

However, the only surviving part of Winchester Castle today is Winchester Great Hall and the only surviving parts of Odiham Castle are the octagonal keep and outlying earthworks. Built between 1207 and 1214, Odiham Castle was the halfway point between Winchester Castle and Windsor Castle. Yet over 800 years later, the scenery along King John’s trail is still abundantly attractive with parklands and forest, heath and downland, quiet streams, historic towns and picturesque villages.

Moreover, according to a recent study done at the University of Cambridge by Max Satchell, an historical geographer, “In the six months leading up to Magna Carta, King John is recorded to have visited some 200 places and travelled well over 1,800 miles as he and his entourage zigzagged their way up and down England, navigating roads that were quagmires in winter.”

Thus we see King John on the constant move, raising taxes, repairing castles, and holding courts as he toured the length and width of his kingdom - sizing up his baronial subjects.