Bungay Castle (novel)
A gothic novel set in a real Suffolk castle.
Bungay Castle, a 1797 gothic novel by Elizabeth Bonhôte, is set in the thirteenth century during the First Barons' War and centers on the fictional De Morney family at the real Bungay Castle in Suffolk. Bonhôte’s husband bought the castle’s ruins in 1791. Published by William Lane’s Minerva Press, it sold well to its audience but went out of print until a 2006 reissue. The story uses classic gothic tropes while downplaying supernatural elements, and features a brave, active heroine rather than a passive damsel.
Quick Facts
- Author
- Elizabeth Bonhôte
- Genre
- Gothic novel
- Publisher
- William Lane
- Published
- 1797
Facts from the source article.
Summary
Roseline and Edwin De Morney live with their father, Sir Philip De Morney, at Bungay Castle near the convent of Saint Mary's. Roseline befriends a novice, Madeline, and brings her home, where Madeline and Edwin fall in love. The trio explore the castle and find Walter locked in a hidden apartment; Walter and Roseline fall in love. Sir Philip has arranged for Roseline to marry Baron Fitzosborne, a wealthy widower who believes he is haunted by his late wife. Roseline agrees to obey her father, but Walter interrupts the wedding via a secret tunnel. The Baron recognizes Walter as his son, believed dead, and allows Roseline to marry him. Walter later becomes entangled with a brothel-keeper's daughter in London but returns to marry Roseline. Madeline and Edwin elope through the same tunnel, are rescued from poverty by Walter, and reconcile with their fathers. The other De Morney children and the Baron make suitable marriages, ending optimistically.
Connection to the real Bungay Castle
The real Bungay Castle was built in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and fell into disrepair after the death of Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk. By the 1700s, impoverished families had built houses along its walls. Elizabeth Bonhôte grew up twenty yards from the castle and explored its ruins as a child. In 1766, Robert Mickleborough purchased the walls to demolish them for road stone, but the stones proved too large. Bonhôte's husband bought the castle in 1791, though the main building was uninhabitable. Bonhôte built a summer house nearby and conceived the novel there. The castle was sold back to Charles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk, in 1800.
Style
Bungay Castle blends Gothic tropes with traits from domestic fiction, creating a light effect. Classic Gothic elements appear—thunderstorms, dungeons, secret passages, ghostly sounds, hidden lovers—but seemingly-supernatural events are quickly revealed as innocent or ridiculous. An ominous floating helmet turns out to be a little girl in costume; other scares come from a puppy, a pet squirrel, and ventriloquism from Walter's servant Albert.
Major themes
The novel is politically conservative, comparing parental governance to political governance and praising virtuous household management as a model for monarchy. A painting of the De Morney daughters playing with a dog resembles a known painting of George III's daughters, framing domestic life as a microcosm of the First Barons' War. Bonhôte used the real Bungay Castle to introduce realism, choosing the historical period of the castle's greatest glory. She saw the ruins' conversion into cottages for the poor as a waste and emphasized restoration of the castle's medieval glories, reflecting a conservative return to lost traditions. The heroine Roseline is active and brave, leading castle exploration and rescuing her love interest, which appeals to modern audiences. Like many eighteenth-century Gothic novels, the work depicts convents as predatory institutions imprisoning women, consistent with anti-Catholic sentiments.
More in Novels Set in Castles
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