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DUDLEY CASTLE
Shown within West Midlands Building Town Dudley, West Midlands Country England Client Earl of Dudley Coordinates 52°30'51?N 2°04'48?W? / ?52.5142, -2.08 Construction Started 8th century Completed 1530 Demolished 1750 (destroyed by fire)
Dudley Castle is a ruined castle in the town of Dudley, West Midlands, England. Dudley Zoo is located in its grounds. The location, Castle Hill, is an outcrop of Wenlock Group limestone that was extensively quarried during the Industrial Revolution, and which now along with Wren's Nest Hill is a Scheduled Ancient Monument as the best surviving remains of the limestone industry in Dudley. It is also a Grade I listed building. The Dudley Tunnel runs beneath Castle Hill, but not the castle itself.

History
According to legend, a wooden castle was constructed on the site in the 8th century by a Saxon lord called Dud or Dado.[1] However this legend is not taken seriously by historians, who usually date the castle from soon after the Norman Conquest of 1066[2]. It is thought one of the Conqueror's followers, Ansculf, built the first castle and that his son, William Fitz-Ansculf, was in possession of the castle when it was recorded at the time of the Domesday Book of 1086. Some of the earthworks from this castle, notably the 'motte', the vast mound on which the present castle keep now sits, still remain. However the earliest castle would have been of wooden construction and no longer exists.

After Fitz-Ansculf, the castle came into the possession of the Paganel family, who built the first stone castle on the site. However, after Gervase Paganel joined a failed rebellion against King Henry II in 1173 the castle was demolished by order of the king. The Somery's were the next dynasty to own the site and set about building the castle in stone starting in the second half of the 13th century and continuing on into the 14th. The keep (the most obvious part of the castle when viewed from the town) and the main gate dates from this re-building. A chapel and great hall were also constructed.

The last of the male line of Somery, John Somery, died in 1321 and the castle and estates passed to his sister Margaret and her husband John de Sutton. Subsequently, members of this family often used Dudley as a surname. In 1532 another John Sutton (the seventh in the Dynasty named John) inherited the castle but after having money problems was ousted by a relative, John Dudley in 1537.

Starting around 1540, the castle was rebuilt as a Renaissance palace by John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland. Dudley was later beheaded, accused of hatching a plot to behead Queen Mary. The castle was later considered as a possible place of imprisonment for Mary Queen of Scots. A century later, the castle became a Royalist stronghold during the English Civil War, but was surrendered to Cromwell's forces in 1646. Parliament subsequently ordered that the castle be partly demolished and the present ruined appearance of the keep result from this decision. However some habitable buildings remained.

The bulk of the remaining habitable parts of the castle was destroyed by fire in 1750, previous to which the living accommodation was used by the Earls of Dudley. The Dudley family then moved to the newly-built Himley Hall approximately four miles away, but were responsible for the site until 1937, when the zoo was established and the castle grounds incorporated into the zoo.

A two-day rock concert was staged at the castle in 2000.
The castle gained fame in 2002 as the venue for the very first live venue for Most Haunted Live on October 31 (Halloween).

The castle also holds the distinction for being the site of the first solid evidence of condoms and their use.[3][4]

The maps of Christopher Saxton drawn in 1579 and John Speed in 1610, mark Dudley Castle in the County of Staffordshire not Worcestershire.[5]

Visitor Centre
The castle visitor centre was opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in June 1994, and amongst other exhibits housed a computer generated reconstruction of the castle as it was in 1550, displayed through hardware that demonstrated the first use of the virtual tour concept, prior to its widespread adoption as a Web-based browser utility. More details of how Her Majesty became the first Royal to experience a virtual world here.

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SIR JOHN DE SUTTON, MARRIAGE
Sir John I De Sutton, knight, was born 1286 in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England; he died 1338 in Dudley, Staffordshire, England. John married Margaret De Somery on 1304 in Dudley, Staffordshire, England.

Margaret De Somery was born 1286 in Dudley, Staffordshire, England; she died 1384 in Dudley, Staffordshire, England.

They had the following children:
Katherine De Sutton was born 1305. Sir John II De Sutton, knight, was born 1310 and died 21 Nov 1359.

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LORD OF DUDDELEYE [DUDLEY]
John De Sutton, son of John and Margaret. He married Isabel De Cherleton. He was in the war against the Scots (1333-1334) and had letters of protection dated April 8, 1333 while he was in the retinue of Ralph Basset of Drayton. He was a knight in 1338; he was summoned to Parliament in 1342. He was in the king's service in 1347, and was then called Lord of Duddeleye.' In 1350 he was sent with a relieving force from England to St. Jean de Angely; he was here summoned to advise the king as to the safety of the kingdom. In 1352 he was one of the commissioners appointed to array archers in Staffordshire. In 1359 John de Sutton, chevalier, was in the retinue of William de Bohum, Earl of Northampton, and died in France...." In addition to his heir, John, he had Thomas de Sutton who served in 1369 in France in the army of the Black Prince. He died on Friday before November 23, 1359.