Wingfield Castle

Wingfield Castle in the parish of Wingfield in Suffolk, England is a Grade I listed building which is now a fortified manor house and 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, His daughter and heiress, Catherine Wingfield, married Michael de la Pole, who was seated at Wingfield Castle, and 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 was also a member of the Wingfield family and was great-grandson of Sir Robert Wingfield (died 1454), of Letheringham in Suffolk. Brandon used the castle on his tours around the county and lived at the castle with his third wife, Mary Tudor when not at their main residence of Westhorpe Hall.