Broughton Castle
"Much
historical interest must ever attach to two localities
where the leaders of the puritan and malcontent party in the reign of Charles I. held their secret meetings, which resulted in the civil war; one of
these was Broughton Castle, the house of the Lord Saye and Sele, about whom
Clarendon wrote that he "had the deepest hand in all the evils that befell the
unhappy kingdom; " the other was Fawsley, the home of Richard Knightley,
whose eldest son had married the favourite daughter of Hampden. At these
two places, Pym, Hampden, St. John, Lord Saye and Sele (who was considered "the
godfather of the puritan party"), Essex, Lord Holland,
Nat Fiennes, and others of rank, held their meetings. At
Broughton there was a chamber to which a private passage
led, and when these conspirators assembled in it they
came secretly, and no servants were allowed to know
anything as to the attendance or the business."
Extract from "The Castles of England: Their Story and Structure" (Archive)
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