In the twentieth year of William the Conqueror, Caverswall was held of Robert de Stadford by Ernulfus de Hesding; but in the time of Richard Cœur de Lion, one Thomas de Careswell was lord of this demesne, from whom it descended to Sir William de Caverswell, Knight, most likely the same who was sheriff of Staffordshire towards the close of the reign of Henry III., and whose descendant, probably grandson, of the same name and title, in the latter end of the reign of King Edward II., built [Illustration] a large and strong stone castle here, surrounded by a deep moat. As additional security, when safety was worth a costly purchase, we are told he gave it the further defence of square turrets at the heads of extensive pieces of water. This is “the castel or prati-pile of Caverwell” of Leland’s time. Of its founder, we know nothing more than is revealed to us by his marble monumental slab, now reduced to the level of the church-floor at the entrance into the chancel--strange transition!--to be trodden on by every foot that passes. This “goodly castle,” as Erdeswick terms it, in his time, about two hundred and fifty years ago, he tells us, “was lately in reasonable good repair, but is now quite let to decay by one Browne, farmer of the demesnes, which he procured (if a man might guess at the cause) lest his lord should take a conceit to live there, and thereby take the demesnes from him.” Now, it is probable no remnant of this ancient Castle is extant, unless in the chiselled stones which give support to garden-hedges about the village. Still, the lower portions of the wall which surrounds the platform of the Castle, with its graduated buttresses, and perhaps also the foundations of some of the turrets, give indications of an architecture at least much anterior to the present building. We are inclined to refer this ancient wall to the period of the original Castle.