Genealogy Forum UK

Hello, everyone.

I am a 3 x great-grandson of Samuel Dearn (1768-1839) and his second wife, Elizabeth, née Swain (1770-1853), who were impoverished nail makers.

Samuel's death certificate shows that he lived and died in a place called Rat Castle, Warley, Salop.
The 1841 census shows Elizabeth and 16 other people with the Dearn surname and a Cutler family of 8 people living in Ratsbury Castle, Warley, Salop. (The Dearns and the Cutlers were probably related in some way, but that is “another story” and not necessarily relevant to this enquiry.)

The 1851 census shows 11 Dearns and the same family of Cutlers still living there, although it was then called Rats Castle. Several of the people living there were either nail makers or “ag labs”. Elizabeth and two other people were “Receiving relief”. So, they were not wealthy people!

Elizabeth Dearn died, aged 82, in February 1853. Her death certificate shows that, like her late husband, she lived and died in Rat Castle.

The 1861 census shows that the same Cutler and Dearn families were still living there but they were then living in Castle Lane, with no apparent reference to a castle as such. Most, but not all, of the houses have the word “Private” shown after Castle Lane.

In 1871 there were still Cutlers and Dearns living there but the address is shown as simply Castle.

One of my 4th cousins, also of Dearn descent, and I have long been intrigued and curious about the fact that some of our impoverished ancestors and their relations apparently lived in a castle. We have made a number of enquiries about the Castle, but are not really any the wiser for having done so as no one has been able to come up with any definite information - just a suggestion that it might, perhaps, have been some sort workhouse or other institution / accommodation for the poor.

Any ideas, anyone, please, as to what the place was? Many thanks in hopeful anticipation!
Ken.
(in rural West Sussex, UK)

Cutlers and Dearns are the bane of my life. There are at least three Dearn/Cutler marriages in a short space of time in Halesowen and it is almost impossible to untangle the families....

I always thought Rats Castle was an Inn in Ratlinghope.

I know I have its description amongst the junk on my computer.

Let me see if I can find it....

The Rats Castle I was thinking of is in Kent and was a farm and then an Inn.

For Worcestershire I noted it was the name of an Inn and the road was named after it. Later on it was just renamed Castle Lane.

I noted that "Rats Castle" seemed to be a term used during the Civil War to denote a place where rebels or loyalists might be hiding.

The Kent "Rats Castle" was apprently ful of secret passageways.

It was later used to name some workhouses and that Charles Dickens used it in one of his novels for that purpose....

Just had a quick look and there is a Rats Castle restaurant in Bromsgrove.

Many thanks, Mark. It certainly looks as though you have come up with the information we were seeking.

Google searches had produced the Kent & Bromsgrove locations. We had disregarded the Kent one as being much too far away to be the right one. Bromsgrove was nearer but still wasn't right: "Our" Rat(sbury) Castle was definitely in Warley - geographically in Worcestershire but administratively then in a "detached" part of Shropshire.

Many thanks once again,
Ken.
(In rural West Sussex)