Wingfield Castle | |
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Wingfield, Suffolk | |
Coordinates | 52°20′52″N 1°15′34″E / 52.3479°N 1.2595°E |
Grid reference | grid reference TM221772 |
Type | Manor House |
Site information | |
Owner | Privately owned |
Condition | Private house |
Site history | |
Materials | Stone |
Wingfield Castle in the parish of Wingfield in Suffolk,[1] England is a fortified manor house which was the ancestral home of the Wingfield family and their heirs, the de la Pole family, created Earls and Dukes of Suffolk. It is now a private house. Sir John de Wingfield (d. circa 1361), of Wingfield, chief administrator to Edward the Black Prince (1330–1376), was the last male of his line, whose daughter and heiress Catherine Wingfield married Michael de la Pole, seated at Wingfield Castle, who in 1385 was created Earl of Suffolk. His descendant Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk (1472–1513) was forced to surrender his dukedom in 1493. It was resurrected by King Henry VIII in 1514 for his favourite Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk (1484–1545), who although he had no close connection with Wingfield Castle and the county of Suffolk, was a great-grandson of Sir Robert Wingfield (died 1454), of Letheringham in Suffolk, about 12 miles south of Wingfield.