Lancaster Castle is a medieval castle and former prison in Lancaster in the English county of Lancashire. Its early history is unclear, but it was most likely founded in 1092-4 on the site of a Roman fort overlooking a crossing of the River Lune. In 1164 the Honour of Lancaster, including the castle, came under royal control. In 1322 and 1389 the Scots invaded England, progressing as far as Lancaster and damaging the castle. It was not to see military action again until the English Civil War. The castle was first used as a prison in 1196 although this aspect became more important during the English Civil War. The castle buildings are owned by the British sovereign as Duke of Lancaster; part of the structure is used to host sittings of the Crown Court.
Until 2011 the majority of the buildings were leased to the Ministry of Justice as HM Prison Lancaster, after which the castle was returned to the Duchy's management. The castle is now open to the public seven days a week and is undergoing a large-scale refurbishment. There is a large sweeping public piazza, allowing access to the cloistered area, renovated in 2019. A new section of the café has been built, against the old outer curtain wall, which was reduced in height to afford views of the neighbouring Lancaster Priory. This is the first 21st-century addition to the castle. Another renovated building adjoining the café is leased to Lancaster University as a campus in the city with small conference facilities.
Background Between 60 and 73 AD, a Roman fort was built at Lancaster on a hill commanding a crossing over the River Lune. Little is known about Lancaster between the end of the Roman occupation of England in the early 5th century and the Norman Conquest in the late 11th century. The layout of the town was influenced by the Roman fort and the associated civilian settlement; the main road through the town was the route that led east from the fort. After the Norman conquest of England in the second half of the 11th century, Lancaster was part of the Earldom of Northumbria; it was claimed by the kings of England and Scotland. In 1092, William II established a permanent border with Scotland further to the north by capturing Carlisle. It is generally thought that Lancaster Castle was founded in the 1090s on the site of the Roman fort in a strategic location. The castle is the oldest standing building in Lancaster and one of the most important. The history of the structure is uncertain. This is partly due to its former use as a prison, which has prevented extensive archaeological investigation.
History
Foundation
As there are no contemporary documents recording the foundation of the castle, it is not certain when and by whom it was started. There are two candidates, firstly, and in light of architectural evidence the far more likely, is Roger de Poitou, the Norman lord in control of the Honour of Lancaster. Secondly there is King David I of Scotland during his occupation of Lancaster during the anarchy.
The architectural evidence for Roger de Poitou is the two romanesque windows in the lower part of the northern elevation of the keep. Neil Guy. 2014. “Lancaster Castle – The Keep Revealed”. The Castle Studies Group Journal No 28. 164. Figs 23 & 24. These windows have been stylistically compared to those at the Exchequer Hall at Caen, now thought to have been constructed circa 1090.ibid. The Exchequer Hall at Caen is thought to have been built under the auspices of King William II of England by masons of a “southern Norman origin”. John McNeil, and Edward Impey. 2016. “The Great Hall of the Dukes of Normandy in the Castle at Caen”. In Castles and the Anglo-Norman World, ed. John Davies et al. Oxford: Oxbow Books. 119. Roger de Poitou was of the Montgomerie family, being a son of Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury. His mother was Mabel de Bellême, therefore his paternal and maternal origins in Normandy lay in the south of the duchy. In 1092 King William II of England is known to have pushed the north western border of England northward to Carlisle and built a castle there. In 1094 Roger de Poitou founded Lancaster Priory. The accumulation of this evidence strongly points to the keep at Lancaster being begun in the period 1092-4 by masons known to both Roger de Poitou and William II of England by masons recruited in the south of Normandy.John Marshall. 2026. Edmund 1st Earl of Lancaster. Barnsley: Pen and Sword. 64. “ To summarise: the convergence of architectural typology, genealogical inheritance, monastic affiliation, and political context leads to a single coherent conclusion: The Lancaster Castle donjon is a late-eleventh‑century Norman keep, constructed by Roger le Paitevin with the strategic support of William II (Rufus), as part of the consolidation of the north‑west frontier between Preston and Carlisle. This interpretation replaces the outdated mid‑12th‑century dating and decisively excludes King David I as a plausible builder. It also seems likely that Lancaster’s donjon was built for Roger le Paitevin by masons with knowledge of or indeed from Roger’s origins in southern Normandy.
Roger de Poitou fled England in 1102 after participating in a failed family rebellion in support of Robert Curthose against the new king, Henry I. As a result, the king confiscated the Honour of Lancaster, which included the castle. The Honour changed hands several times. Henry granted it to Stephen of Blois, his nephew and later king. When the Anarchy erupted in 1139 – a civil war between Stephen and Empress Matilda for the English throne – the area was in turmoil. Stephen secured his northern frontier by allowing David I of Scotland to occupy the Honour in 1141. It is possible that David refortified the castle at this time. Due to a lack of investigation, there is little evidence to suggest additions to Lancaster in the mid-12th century. However, the uncertain construction date of the keep means that the King of Scotland could have been responsible for building it. The war came to an end in 1153. It was agreed that after Stephen died, he would be succeeded by Henry Plantagenet (later King Henry II), Matilda's son. Part of the agreement was that the King of Scotland would relinquish the Honour of Lancaster, which would be held by William, Stephen's son. After William's death in 1164, the Honour of Lancaster again came under royal control when Henry II gained possession of the Honour.
On the death of Henry II, the Honour passed to his son, Richard the Lionheart, who gave it to his brother, Prince John, in the hope of securing his loyalty. One of the functions castles served was as a prison; the first record of the castle being used in this way was in 1196, although the role became much more important after the English Civil War. Since the 12th century, the monarch appointed a sheriff to maintain the peace in Lancashire, a role usually filled by the duke and based at the castle. In the late 12th and early 13th century, many timber castles founded during the Norman Conquest were rebuilt in stone. Lancaster was one such castle. Building in stone was expensive and time-consuming. For example, the late 12th-century stone keep at Peveril Castle in Derbyshire cost around £200, although something on a much larger scale, such as the vast Château Gaillard cost an estimated £15,000 to £20,000 and took several years to complete. For many castles, the expenditure is unknown. However, work on royal castles was often documented in Pipe Rolls, which began in 1155. The Rolls show that John spent over £630 on digging a ditch outside Lancaster's south and west walls, and for the construction of "the King's lodgings". This probably referred to what is now known as Adrian's Tower. His successor, Henry III also spent large sums on Lancaster: £200 in 1243 and £250 in 1254 for work on the gatehouse and creating a stone curtain wall.
14th and 15th centuries
For the next 150 years, there is no record of building work, although accounts are incomplete. The Well Tower is thought to date from the early 14th century. If there was no work on the castle, this may indicate that it was not important enough to warrant expenditure beyond upkeep, as Lancaster was not near a border. Though the region was generally peaceful, the Scots invaded in 1322 and 1389, reaching Lancaster and damaging the castle. The holdings of the Duchy of Lancaster extended beyond the county, and Lancaster was not especially important. However, when Henry Duke of Lancaster ascended the throne as King Henry IV in 1399, he almost immediately began adding the monumental gatehouse. A further devastation of the town, as had been inflicted in 1389, would have been an embarrassment for the new king; his expensive programme of building at the castle helped protect against this. The gatehouse Henry replaced was probably a simple structure, no more than a passage between two towers, but the rebuilt structure rivalled the keep as the strongest part of the castle. Records show that between 1402 and 1422, the year Henry V died, over £2,500 was spent on building work. While most of this sum would have been spent on the gatehouse, some may have been used to make alterations to the top storey of the keep. Since then, the castle has remained in the ownership of the Crown.
After the Scottish invasion of 1389, Lancaster saw no further military action until the English Civil War. A survey in 1578 led to repairs to the keep costing £235. With the threat of a Spanish invasion, the castle was strengthened in 1585. After Elizabeth I was excommunicated in 1570, she retaliated by declaring Roman Catholic priests guilty of high treason. Any discovered in Lancashire were taken to Lancaster Castle for trial. During the period 1584-1646 fifteen Catholics were executed in Lancaster for their faith.'LANCASTER'S CATHOLIC MARTYRS' BY CHRISTINE GOODIER MA The notorious Pendle witches trial took place at Lancaster Castle in 1612.
Civil War At the outbreak of the Civil War Lancaster was lightly garrisoned. A small Parliamentarian force captured the castle in February 1643, established a garrison and set about building earthworks around the approaches to the town. In response, the Royalists dispatched an army to retake Lancaster. The outer defences fell in March; a siege of the castle lasted just two days as Parliamentarian reinforcements were heading to Lancaster from Preston. The Royalists unsuccessfully tried to recapture Lancaster in April and again in June; the town and castle remained under Parliament's control until the end of the war. Orders were given that "all the walls about [Lancaster Castle] should be thrown down". The instruction was not followed, and in August 1648 the town withstood a siege from the Royalist Duke of Hamilton who led an army south from Scotland. King Charles was executed in January 1649 and shortly after Parliament again ordered the slighting of the castle, apart from buildings necessary for administration and use as a county gaol. The monarchy was restored in 1660, and Charles II visited Lancaster on 12 August and released all the prisoners held in the castle. Lancashire's High Sheriff and Justices of the Peace petitioned the king to repair the castle. The buildings were surveyed and repair work estimated at £1,957. After the slighting of the castle, including the demolition of the Well Tower, it was militarily redundant.
Gaol
In 1554, the martyr George Marsh was held at the castle before standing trial at Chester Cathedral.Foxe's Book of Martyrs by John Foxe Some Quakers, including in 1660 George Fox, were held at the castle for being politically dangerous. County gaols, such as this one, were intended to hold prisoners for short periods immediately before trial. The castle also served as a debtors' prison. In the 18th century it became more common for county gaols to hold longer-term prisoners; as a result they began to suffer from overcrowding.