This list of castles in England is not a list of every building and site that has "castle" as part of its name, nor does it list only buildings that conform to a strict definition of a castle as a medieval fortified residence.[1] It is not a list of every castle ever built in England, many of which have vanished without trace, but is primarily a list of buildings and remains that have survived. In almost every case the buildings that survive are either ruined, or have been altered over the centuries. For several reasons, whether a given site is that of a medieval castle has not been taken to be a sufficient criterion for determining whether or not that site should be included in the list.
Castles that have vanished or whose remains are barely visible are not listed, except for some important or well-known buildings and sites. Fortifications from before the medieval period are not listed, nor are architectural follies. In other respects it is difficult to identify clear and consistent boundaries between two sets of buildings, comprising those that indisputably belong in a list of castles and those that do not. The criteria adopted for inclusion in the list include such factors as: how much survives from the medieval period; how strongly fortified the building was; how castle-like the surviving building is; whether the building has been given the title of "castle"; how certain it is that a medieval castle stood on the site, or that the surviving remains are those of a medieval castle; how well-known or interesting the building is; and whether including or excluding a building helps make the list, in some measure, more consistent.
In order to establish a list that is as far as possible comprehensive as well as consistent, it is necessary to establish its boundaries. Before the list itself, a discussion of its scope includes lengthy lists of buildings excluded from the main lists for various reasons. The Castellarium Anglicanum, an authoritative index of castles in England and Wales published in 1983, lists over 1,500 castle sites in England.[2] Many of these castles have vanished or left almost no trace. The present list includes more than 800 medieval castles of which there are visible remains, with over 300 having substantial surviving stone or brick remains.
History
The Tower of London
A castle is a type of fortified structure, developed in Europe during the Middle Ages. The first castles appeared in France in the 10th century,[3] and in England during the 11th century. A few castles are known to have been built in England before the Normans invaded in 1066;[4] a great many were built in the years following, the principal mechanism by means of which the Normans were able to consolidate their control over the country.[5] Whilst a few important castles, such as the White Tower in the Tower of London, were built of stone, most early castles were motte-and-bailey castles of earthwork and timber, which could be constructed quickly. Some were later rebuilt in stone,[6] but there are a great many castle sites in England where all that is visible today are traces of earthworks.[7]
Castles continued to be built in England for several hundred years, reaching a peak of military sophistication in the late 13th century.[8] The two principal elements in their construction were the great tower or keep, such as the White Tower, and the fortified enclosure, such as is provided by the outer wall of the Tower of London. During the 14th century, largely as a result of the decline of feudalism,[9] the construction of strong castles began to decline, in favour of more lightly fortified structures often described as fortified manor houses.[10] In the far north of England, where conditions remained unsettled, fortified buildings continued to be built as late as the 16th century, not only by the rich and powerful but by any with adequate means, as defence not against great armies, but against the notorious Border Reivers. Many took the form of the pele tower, a smaller, more modest version of the castle keep,[11] and many of these still survive, often incorporated in later buildings.
Castles differed from earlier fortifications in that they were generally private fortified residences. Typically, a castle was the residence of a feudal lord, providing the owner with a secure base from which to control his lands,[12] and also a symbol of wealth and power. Earlier fortified structures, such as the Saxon burh or the Iron Agehillfort, provided public or communal defences,[13] as did medieval town or city walls. The many Roman forts of which ruins survive in Britain differed in being wholly military in nature; they were camps or strongholds of the Roman army. The Romans also built town or city walls in England, which can still be seen, for instance at Silchester.
By the 16th century the role of fortifications had changed once more with the development of artillery capable of breaching even thick stone walls. In the reign of Henry VIII, fears of invasion[14] led to the building of a series of new fortresses along the south coast of England,[15] known as the Device Forts or Henrician Castles. These were designed to use and to defend against artillery, and since they were not private residences, but national fortifications, they do not possess what architectural historians have come to see as the defining characteristics of a castle.[16] Nonetheless, they are visibly castle-like, being compact, with battlemented walls, squat turrets and sometimes a keep; and they were the last generation of fortresses in England to be known as castles, long before architectural historians began to argue that they should not be.[17] One of them, Pendennis Castle, was one of the last Royalist strongholds to fall to the Parliamentarians during the English Civil War—starvation forcing surrender after a siege of five months.[18]
As the role of the castle as a fortress declined in the later medieval period, its role as a residence increasingly became the more important. Castles such as Herstmonceux were built with fortifications seemingly designed more for show than for strength,[19] implying a further evolution in the role and concept of the castle, becoming less a means of enforcing power but instead a symbol of its possession, a castle becoming a grand residence proclaiming the status of its owner. Once fortifications had become altogether redundant, it became increasingly rare in England for new buildings to be described as castles, in contrast to France, where country houses continued to be known as châteaux.
Once no longer needed as fortresses, castles – if they were not abandoned – were, over the centuries, adapted and modernised to make them more suitable for continued use as residences:[20] large windows were inserted in defensive walls, as at Lumley; outer walls were demolished or lowered to open up views from within, as at Raby; new residential ranges were built to improve and extend accommodation, as at Windsor. Some castles were restored after falling into ruin, like Bamburgh;[21] others, like Belvoir, were demolished and rebuilt, retaining little or none of the original structure.[22] In the 18th and 19th centuries especially, many castles underwent "improvements" by architects such as Anthony Salvin, and in this period a fashion developed for entirely new houses to be built in the style of castles, and to be known as castles.[23][24] Amongst these was Peckforton Castle, built by Salvin: a building so authentic in its recreation of a medieval castle that it has been described as possibly the last serious fortified home built in Britain.[25]
No list of castles in England is ever likely to be complete, because there will never be complete agreement in every case as to whether the remains of a building are those of a castle, whether a given place is the site of a castle, or whether a surviving building should be considered to be a castle.[26]
In the post-medieval period, the distinction between true castles and later mock castles is blurred by the extent to which medieval castles were adapted and rebuilt. At Greystoke a new castle was built incorporating a medieval pele tower;[30] at Thurland a new castle was built from the ruins of the old;[31] at Belvoir the old castle was demolished and a new one built.[22] The building of mock castles might be seen as the logical conclusion of a process already apparent in castles such as Herstmonceux or Tattershall, where the castle-like aspect of the building was becoming more for show than for strength.[19]
However carefully the criteria for including a building or site on this list are set out, borderline cases are inevitable. Many buildings known to incorporate northern pele towers in their fabric, but are no longer castle-like—such as the Red Lion Tower in Haltwhistle—have been excluded. On the other hand, Corby Castle, in which a pele tower survives wholly encased in a later building,[33] is included because it is known as a castle, and by implication continued to fulfil the role of one, at least in part. Kimbolton Castle is included as the site of a medieval castle, and because the present mansion has a castellated aspect in deference to the medieval castle it replaced.
Usually the name of the surviving building, but not always—for instance the remains of the historic Bampton Castle were incorporated in a later building known as Ham Court
Type
Usually the type of castle represented by the predominant surviving fortified remains
Date
Usually the dates of the principal building works relating to the surviving remains
Condition
An indication as to what remains of the original castle structure
Image
The building or site as it currently exists
Ownership /Access
Brief information relating to the current ownership or use of the site, an icon signifying that the site is frequently open to the public
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars usually consider a castle to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. This is distinct from a mansion, palace, and villa, whose main purpose was exclusively for pleasance and are not primarily fortresses but may be fortified. Use of the term has varied over time and, sometimes, has also been applied to structures such as hill forts and 19th- and 20th-century homes built to resemble castles. Over the Middle Ages, when genuine castles were built, they took on a great many forms with many different features, although some, such as curtain walls, arrowslits, and portcullises, were commonplace.
Dover Castle is a medieval castle in Dover, Kent, England and is Grade I listed. It was founded in the 11th century and has been described as the "Key to England" due to its defensive significance throughout history. Some writers say it is the largest castle in England, a title also claimed by Windsor Castle.
Lingfield is a village and civil parish in the Tandridge district of Surrey, England, approximately 23 miles (37 km) south of London. Several buildings date from the Tudor period and the timber-frame medieval church is Grade I listed. The stone cage or old gaol, constructed in 1773, was last used in 1882 to hold a poacher.
An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these people, the term distinguished between town and country. However, the term also encompasses houses that were, and often still are, the full-time residence for the landed gentry who dominated rural Britain until the Reform Act 1832. Frequently, the formal business of the counties was transacted in these country houses, having functional antecedents in manor houses.
Cambridge Castle, locally also known as Castle Mound, is located in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England. Originally built after the Norman conquest to control the strategically important route to the north of England, it played a role in the conflicts of the Anarchy, the First and Second Barons' Wars. Hugely expanded by Edward I, the castle then fell rapidly into disuse in the late medieval era, its stonework recycled for building purposes in the surrounding colleges. Cambridge Castle was refortified during the English Civil War but once again fell into disuse, used primarily as the county gaol. The castle gaol was finally demolished in 1842, with a new prison built in the castle bailey. This prison was demolished in 1932, replaced with the modern Shire Hall, and only the castle motte and limited earthworks still stand. The site is open to the public daily and offers views over the historic buildings of the city.
Egmanton is a small village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire, England, and is located one mile south of Tuxford and one mile north of Laxton. According to the 2001 census it has 254 inhabitants in 101 households in the civil parish, the population taken at the 2011 census went up to 286, and this fell to 271 for the 2021 census. The name derives from the Old English words for Ecgmund's farm/settlement.
Laugharne Castle is in Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, Wales. The castle, located on the estuary of the River Tâf, was originally established in 1116. It was rebuilt as a Norman stronghold. There have been many alterations since then, including becoming a Tudor fortified manor house in the sixteenth century. It changed hands twice during the English Civil War, being eventually captured by Parliamentary forces in 1644.
Cawood Castle is a grade I listed building in Cawood, a village in North Yorkshire, England. The surviving fifteenth-century structures formed part of a fortified medieval palace belonging to the Archbishops of York, which was dismantled in the aftermath of the English Civil War.
Haverfordwest Castle is a castle located in the town centre at Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, south Wales, in a naturally defensive position at the end of a strong, isolated ridge. The castle was established during Norman times in 1120 but much of the architecture remaining today dates from 1290. For centuries the castle was an English stronghold. There are several other notable castles in area: Wiston Castle lies 6 miles (10 km) to the northeast and Pembroke Castle lies 12 miles (19 km) to the south.
Alton Castle is a Gothic-revival castle, on a hill above the Churnet Valley, in the village of Alton, Staffordshire, England. The site has been fortified in wood since Saxon times, with a stone castle dating from the 12th century. The current castle was constructed in the mid-19th century by John Talbot, 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, of nearby Alton Towers. Since 1967 the castle has been designated a Grade I listed building. It is also a scheduled monument.
Clavering Castle remains are situated in the small parish village of Clavering in the county of Essex, England, 50m north of the church of St Mary and St Clement on the southern bank of the River Stort, some 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of Bishop's Stortford.
The Citadel of Aleppo is a large medieval fortified palace in the centre of the old city of Aleppo, northern Syria. It is considered to be one of the oldest and largest castles in the world. Usage of the Citadel hill dates back at least to the middle of the 3rd millennium BCE. Occupied by many civilizations over time – including the Greeks, Armenians, Romans, Byzantines, Ayyubids, Mamluks and Ottomans – the majority of the construction as it stands today is thought to originate from the Ayyubid period. An extensive conservation work took place in the 2000s CE by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, in collaboration with Aleppo Archeological Society. Dominating the city, the Citadel is part of the Ancient City of Aleppo, an UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986 CE. During the 2010s, the Citadel received significant damage during the lengthy Battle of Aleppo. It was reopened to the public in early 2018 CE with repairs to damaged parts underway, though some of the damage will be purposefully preserved as part of the history of the citadel. The citadel was damaged by the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake.
While there are many castles in South Yorkshire, the majority are manor houses and motte-and-bailey which were commonly found in England after the Norman Conquest.
Tower houses appeared on the Islands of Ireland and Great Britain starting from the High Middle Ages. They were constructed in the wilder parts of Great Britain and Ireland, particularly in Scotland, and throughout Ireland, until at least up to the 17th century. The remains of such structures are dotted around the Irish and Scottish countryside, with a particular concentration in the Scottish Borders where they include peel towers and bastle houses. Some are still intact and even inhabited today, while others stand as ruined shells.
Dilham Castle, also called Dilham Hall, is situated in the village of Dilham, near Stalham in Norfolk, England.
Ludgershall Castle is a ruined 12th-century fortified royal residence at Ludgershall in Wiltshire, England. Three large walls still remain of the castle, which was turned into a hunting lodge by Henry III but fell into disuse by the 15th century. The ruin was listed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument in 1981.
Rotherfield Greys Castle, initially known as Retherfield Castle, is a 14th-century fortified manor house built in Rotherfield Greys, Oxfordshire. Only the ruins of a single tower and a section of curtain wall survives, of which is associated with Greys Court, a Tudor country house. The castle is owned by the National Trust.
References
Key to sources
BLB – British Listed Buildings website (retrieved March 2011; last accessed 5 October 2012)
PSC – Pastscape website (retrieved September 2011; last accessed 5 October 2012)
↑ Renn (1984) pp.277–278. See King (1988), p.173 for how some people criticised the inclusion of HenryVIII's artillery forts in King's index of castles, Castellarium Anglicanum.
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