posted 03-28-2001 08:02 AM         

Near the pleasant old town of Watlington, and just off the B4009, is one of the few inhabited small castles in England.
At the time of Domesday, Shirburn belonged to Robert D'Oyley who had built both Oxford and Watlington castles. He may well have built an early wooden structure at Shirburn. In the 12th century D'Oyley's castle belonged to Henry de Tyeis who held it for the Earl of Cornwall, brother of Henry III. Alice, daughter of de Tyeis, inherited it in 1307 and it passed to her husband Warine de L'Isle. Here, Thomas, Earl of Lancaster came to se L'Isle and they plotted to overthrow Edward II, whose army had been routed at Bannockburn. The rebel Lords gathered at Boroughbridge in Yorkshire where in March 1322, they were defeated by a force of men-at-arms and archers under Sir Andrew Harcla. Both Thomas and de L'Isle were executed and the castle passed to a grandson, also Warine de L'Isle. It was he who obtained a licence to crenellate and built the present building in 1378. When he died, his granddaughter inherited the estate, and she married the 12th Earl of Warwick. In 1426 however, it became the possession of a local family, the Quatremaynes of Thame. Richard Quatremayne left it to his servant Thomas Fowler, but the Fowlers were always in debt, and Richard Fowler married his daughter Sibyl to Richard Chamberlain, giving them Shirburn in exchange for enough money to pay his creditors.
During the Civil War Shirburn escaped destruction due to the common sense of the Chamberlains, who were Royalists, but remained neutral. One of the Chamberlains married a Gage and in 1716 it was sold to Lord Parker, Lord Chief Justice, who was created Earl of Macclesfield ny George I. The same family own it today.