Cockermouth Castle crowns a promontory between the rivers Derwent and Cocker.
The notorious William de Fortibus acquired the manor in 1215 and built a castle here, possibly on an older site, but Henry III ordered its destruction upon his downfall six years later.
It seems to have survived this episode but most of [...]
At the heart of this great mansion is one of England’s finest medieval manor houses.
Sir John de Pulteney, four times Lord Mayor of London, built it after he purchased the manor about 1338.
His house conforms to the usual domestic layout of the later Middle Ages, the hall being flanked on one [...]
The Tower of London and Dover Castle were the strongest castles of medieval England.
There are those who would put Dover first and London second, but this is a matter of preference.
Both castle retain their majesty in spite of extensive later mutilation.
It must be admitted that Dover makes the most of [...]
Tattershall Castle posses one of the most splendid of later medieval tower houses.
It has justly been described as the finest piece of medieval brickwork in England.
Ralph, Lord Cromwell, erected this tower in the years 1434046.
Rising over a hundred feet to the top of its corner turrets, with a view stretching [...]
Its nucleus is one of the coastal forts of Henry VIII, expanded as a result of another invasion scare in Victorian times.
The original castle was built in 1539-44 and the master mason, Thomas Bertie, later became captain of the garrison here, a curious but not uncommon reward for a castle builder.
Like [...]
Chester originated as the Roman legionary fortress of Deva.
Stone defenses first rose around AD 100 and for the next three centuries it housed the Twentieth Legion.
When the Roman occupation came to an end the site appears to have been deterred, but the Danes took refuge one winter behind the old walls [...]
Castle and cathedral have faced each other across the hilltop since Norman times.
Lincoln Castle was raised over the southwest quarter of the citadel by order of William the Conqueror in 1068.
The site had previously been densely occupied - Domesday Book tells us that 166 houses were destroyed to make way for [...]
Raby Castle stands within a vast park to the north of Staindrop.
Despite the alterations inevitable in a castle that has become a stately home, Raby ranks among the finest of later medieval fortified mansions.
It reflects the aspirations of the Neville family, who became the most powerful of the Bishop of Durham’s [...]
Berkeley Castle rises on a low hill in sight of the Severn estuary.
The castle is an appealing blend of Norman fortress and later medieval mansion, still remarkably unspoilt despite its continuous occupation by an aristocratic family, who might have been expected to rebuild or drastically modernize it in more recent centuries.
The motte and [...]
Upnor Castle belongs to the genre of Henrician cosastal forts but is an Elizabethan addition to the chain.
It was begun in 1599 to guard the approach to the new dockyard at Chatham, lying two miles away near the estuary of the River Medway.
Sir Richard Lee interrupted his work on the fortifications [...]
