Rector of Woodham Walter

b1606   d 1685

Castell entered Cambridge at 15 and became an expert on languages.

He used this expertise  to help compile the  was a polyglot Bible with Arabic, Hebrew and English language side by side. This bible is still used by scholars today.

He followed this up with the epic Lexican Heptaglotten which took him many years to complete but he fell into debt as it did not prove a commercial success.

 Sadly he was put into debtor’s prison for debts of his brother for which he had stood as guarantor and could no longer afford to pay due to the expense of compiling the bible.

In 1660 he wrote and published a book of verses supporting the restoration of Charles II to the throne.