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.Brown (1962), p.16. 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.King (1983). 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
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,Brown (1962), p.24. and in England during the 11th century. A few castles are known to have been built in England before the Normans invaded in 1066;Brown (1962), p.43. 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.Brown (1962), p.50. 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,Brown (1962), p.84 but there are a great many castle sites in England where all that is visible today are traces of earthworks.Higham & Barker (1992), pp.194–198.
Castles continued to be built in England for several hundred years, reaching a peak of military sophistication in the late 13th century.Brown (1962), p.95. 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,Brown (1962), p.221. the construction of strong castles began to decline, in favour of more lightly fortified structures often described as fortified manor houses.Brown (1962), p.129.
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,Brown (1962), p.131. 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,Brown (1962), p.172. and also a symbol of wealth and power. Earlier fortified structures, such as the Saxon burh or the Iron Age hillfort, provided public or communal defences,Brown (1962), p.15. 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 invasionElton (1991), p.154. led to the building of a series of new fortresses along the south coast of England,Harrington (2007), p.8. 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.Brown (1962), p.128. 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.Harrington (2007), p.2. 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."Pendennis Castle" PSC.
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,Brown (1962), p.146. 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:Creighton & Higham (2003), p.64. 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;"Bamburgh Castle" PSC. others, like Belvoir, were demolished and rebuilt, retaining little or none of the original structure."Belvoir Castle" PSC. 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.Thompson (1987), pp.161–163.Impey & Parnell (2000), pp.118–121. 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."Peckforton Castle" BLB.
Scope and exclusions 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.Renn (1984) pp.277–278. See King (1988), p.173 for how some people criticised the inclusion of Henry VIII's artillery forts in King's index of castles, Castellarium Anglicanum.
Perhaps because the castle has become the most familiar type of fortification, many sites of fortifications earlier than the 10th century have become known as castles. Most of these are Iron Age hill forts. Amongst the best known are Abbotsbury Castle, Barbury Castle, Bratton Castle, Cadbury Castle, Castle Dore, Chûn Castle, Liddington Castle, Maen Castle, Maiden Castle and Uffington Castle, while many more appear in the List of hillforts in England. Others, such as Melandra Castle, Reculver Castle, Richborough Castle and Whitley Castle, are Roman forts, whilst Daw's Castle is a Saxon burh. None of these is included in the present list unless it is also the site of a medieval castle, as is the case with, for instance, Portchester Castle, where an imposing castle was built within the surviving walls of the Roman fort."Portchester Castle" PSC.
Nor are all medieval fortified sites included in the present list. The remains of town and city walls are excluded—most of these appear in the List of town walls in England and Wales. Also excluded are churches with defensive towers, such as Ancroft, Burgh by Sands, Edlingham, Garway, Great Salkeld and Newton Arlosh, as well as other fortified ecclesiastical sites such as Alnwick Abbey, Battle Abbey, Thornton Abbey, Wetheral Priory, Whalley Abbey and St Mary's Abbey, York.
Some of the pele towers of Northern England are included, but the more modest fortified buildings known as bastles are not, though the distinction between them is not always altogether clear. Amongst fortified manor houses, those given the title of castle are included, whilst many others were more lightly fortified and are excluded. Amongst these are Baddesley Clinton, Cowdray House, Farnhill Hall, Hipswell Hall, Ightham Mote, Little Wenham Hall, Markenfield Hall and Walburn Hall.
The list includes pele towers that became known as castles, or preserve a castle-like aspect. Many others, or their remains, survive much altered—incorporated in later country houses or farmhouses, and are excluded. Amongst these are: Aske Hall, Biddlestone RC Chapel, Bolling Hall, Bolton Old Hall, Boltongate Rectory, Causey Park House, Clennell Hall, Cliburn Hall, Corbridge Low Hall, Cowmire Hall, Craster Arms (Beadnell), Croglin Old Pele, Denton Hall, Dovenby Hall, Dunstan Hall, East Shaftoe Hall, Godmond Hall, Great Salkeld Rectory, Hardrigg Hall, Hepscott Hall, Hetton Hall, Hollin Hall, Hutton Hall (Penrith), Irton Hall, Johnby Hall, Killington Hall, Kirkoswald College, Levens Hall, Little Harle Tower, Nether Hall, Netherby Hall, Ormside Hall, Pockerley Pele, Preston Patrick Hall, Randalholme Hall, Rock Hall, Rudchester Hall, Sella Park, Selside Hall, Skelsmergh Hall, Smardale Hall, Thistlewood Farmhouse, Warnell Hall, Weetwood Hall and Witton Tower.