In the First Barons’ War William de Beauchamp received the barons into the castle. However, Faukes de Breaute was sent by King John of England to gain its surrender and did so in a few days, for which John gave him the castle and the barony.

After Faukes had fortified his castle and rendered it nearly impregnable – it is said that he pulled down the Church of St. Paul for materials – he became an oppressive landlord and was eventually fined 3000 pounds by the king’s justices sitting at Dunstable. Enraged at this, Faukes sent his brother William de Breaute and a troop of men-at-arms to bring the justices to the castle by force, but they had prior knowledge of this. Two of them escaped, and only Henry of Braybrooke was taken and abused.

The king had had enough of Faukes’ behaviour and, marching to the castle in person with Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury and the chief peers of the realm, demanded that he back down. Confident in the castle’s defences, Falkes refused. However, the ensuing siege went badly for him and, leaving his brother as governor of the castle, he fled to a church at Coventry.

In Faukes’ absence and with all help gone, after a while William surrendered the castle, and was hanged with twenty-four knights and eighty soldiers.
Through the mediation of the Bishop of Coventry, Faukes obtained the royal pardon, on condition that he left the realm. Culmo, another brother, was also pardoned. Henry called the castle “the nursery of sedition’” and ordered it to be dismantled and its moats to be filled up.

This order was not fully carried out. Its ruins were seen 250 years later and Camden recorded that in his lifetime the ruins then overhung the river on the east side of the town.

All that survived above ground into modern times was a mound of earth. Bedford Borough Council built a sloping retaining wall on the South side, facing the river in about 2000. Though almost completely modern, the wall does incorporate a few pieces of original masonry. A paved path leads round the side of the mound up to the top, which is a flat circular grassy area. A small wooden structure of the same date at the top of the wall, much like a bus shelter, protects tourists from the rain while they view the river embankment. In 2007/08 archaeological investigations were carried out as a condition of a development scheme on the site of two former carparks at Castle Lane. These uncovered the surviving lower walls of the great hall and adjacent structures in the inner bailey, which are now on permanent public view in a small park west of the motte.

The Albert Dock is a complex of dock buildings and warehouses in Liverpool, England. Designed by Jesse Hartley and Philip Hardwick, it was opened in 1846, and was the first structure in Britain to be built from cast iron, brick and stone, with no structural wood. As a result, it was the first non-combustible warehouse system in the world.

At the time of its construction the Albert Dock was considered a revolutionary docking system because ships were loaded and unloaded directly from the warehouses. Two years after it opened it was modified to feature the world’s first hydraulic cranes. Due to its open yet secure design, the Albert Dock became a popular store for valuable cargoes such as brandy, cotton, tea, silk, tobacco, ivory and sugar. However, despite the Albert Dock’s advanced design, the rapid development of shipping technology meant that within 50 years, larger, more open docks were required, although it remained a valuable store for cargo.

During the Second World War, the Albert Dock was requisitioned by the Admiralty serving as a base for boats of the British Atlantic Fleet. The complex was damaged during air raids on Liverpool, notably during the May Blitz of 1941. In the aftermath of the war, the financial problems of the owners and the general decline of docking in the city meant that the future of the Albert Dock was uncertain. Numerous plans were developed for the re-use of the buildings but none came to fruition and in 1972 the dock was finally closed. Having lain derelict for nearly ten years, the redevelopment of the dock began in 1981, when the Merseyside Development Corporation was set up, with the Albert Dock being officially re-opened in 1988.

Today the Albert Dock is a major tourist attraction in the city and the most visited multi-use attraction in the United Kingdom, outside of London. It is a vital component of Liverpool’s UNESCO designated World Heritage Maritime Mercantile City and the docking complex and warehouses also comprise the largest single collection of Grade I listed buildings anywhere in the UK. As well as being the number one tourist attraction in Liverpool, the Albert Dock is also the most visited multi-use attraction in the United Kingdom outside of London, with in excess of four million visitors per year. Amongst the many attractions at the Albert Dock are the Merseyside Maritime Museum, the Beatles Story and the Tate Liverpool. There are also two hotels within the Albert Dock: a Holiday Inn and Premier Lodge both located in the Britannia Pavilion.