What happened to Dunstonbury and Whitegrove?

[Lord Barner]

I was wondering how is it, that those two castles just disapeared from the history after First Blackfyre Rebellion. Especialy Dunstonbury seems to be pretty important castle, that was once house Manderly's seat, and they were powerful enought to be thret for Gardeners, so it is strange that we don't hear about it's location or current holder in the series.

So I think that maybe we do hear about it, but we don't know it (yet). In the "Hedge Knight" we witness new house being founded - Fossoway of New Barrel. Fossoways don't seem to be powerfull or rich enought to have spare castles for cadet branches poping out now and then, so I'm thinking that meybe Raymun was at some point awarded with one of those two Castles, once held by Peakes, and eventually changed it's name to New Barrel. I know that renamng castles isn't a thing in Westeros, especially those ancient ones, but I just really like this idea. It would also explain, how barely 90 years old house managed to gain such an importance in Reach to marry into house Tyrell in last generation.

What do you think about that?

Do you have other ideas what might have happened to those two castles?

[Werthead]

16 hours ago, Lord Barner said:

I was wondering how is it, that those two castles just disapeared from the history after First Blackfyre Rebellion. Especialy Dunstonbury seems to be pretty important castle, that was once house Manderly's seat, and they were powerful enought to be thret for Gardeners, so it is strange that we don't hear about it's location or current holder in the series.

So I think that maybe we do hear about it, but we don't know it (yet). In the "Hedge Knight" we witness new house being founded - Fossoway of New Barrel. Fossoways don't seem to be powerfull or rich enought to have spare castles for cadet branches poping out now and then, so I'm thinking that meybe Raymun was at some point awarded with one of those two Castles, once held by Peakes, and eventually changed it's name to New Barrel. I know that renamng castles isn't a thing in Westeros, especially those ancient ones, but I just really like this idea. It would also explain, how barely 90 years old house managed to gain such an importance in Reach to marry into house Tyrell in last generation.

What do you think about that?

Do you have other ideas what might have happened to those two castles?

It's a nice idea but Dunstonbury is probably quite a strong castle and Fossoway Jnr. quite a new and tiny house, so it seems unlikely they'd just give them the castle. If was assume that Dunstonbury is on the Mander (quite likely) and downriver from Highgarden (reasonably likely, as upriver is pretty well covered), the Gardeners and Tyrells would have likely wanted a fairly reliable, strong and allied house to command the castle there. 

[Vaith]

New Barrel is probably a newly constructed castle ("new" is in the name, after all) instead of a renamed one.

Dunstonbury and Whitegrove may have been given to unknown houses, or perhaps the Tyrells or even the crown just own those castles directly since they were stripped from the Peakes.

[Lord of Brewtown]

There are also several Reach families that we have heard of; but, have not been tied to a stronghold (Ambrose, Cockshaw, Dunn, Leygood, Varner, Wythers).  It's likely one of those families have taken over Dunstonbury and Whitegrove.  

 

 

[The hairy bear]

Great question. Probably the most likely explanation is that they are held by the Tyrells.

5 hours ago, Lord of Brewtown said:

There are also several Reach families that we have heard of; but, have not been tied to a stronghold (Ambrose, Cockshaw, Dunn, Leygood, Varner, Wythers). 

Being Aubrey Ambrose and Alyn Cockshaw prominent Blackfyre supporters, it seems unlikely that their houses received any rewards from Daeron II.

But the problem with assuming that any of those "seatless" houses owns Dunstonbury is that they are hardly mentioned in the books. We only hear of them in passing, if at all. One would expect that the owners of the ancestral seat of the Manderlys would be a significant player in the Reach politics.

[Lion of the West]

12 hours ago, The hairy bear said:

Great question. Probably the most likely explanation is that they are held by the Tyrells.

Being Aubrey Ambrose and Alyn Cockshaw prominent Blackfyre supporters, it seems unlikely that their houses received any rewards from Daeron II.

But the problem with assuming that any of those "seatless" houses owns Dunstonbury is that they are hardly mentioned in the books. We only hear of them in passing, if at all. One would expect that the owners of the ancestral seat of the Manderlys would be a significant player in the Reach politics.

True, but only if they also got the lands. If the lands were not handed out along with the castle, then that family could easily do a Westerling, so to speak.