List of Castles in England - Scope and Exclusions

Scope and Exclusions

No list of castles in England can ever 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.

Perhaps because the castle has become the most familiar type of fortification, there are a great many sites in England of fortifications earlier than the 10th century which 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, whilst many more appear in the List of hill forts 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.

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: 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.

Pele towers which became known as castles, or preserve a castle-like aspect, are included in the present list. Many others, or their remains, have survived much altered, incorporated in later country houses or farmhouses, and are excluded from the list: 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.

In the post-medieval period, the distinction between true castles and the 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; at Thurland a new castle was built from the ruins of the old; at Belvoir the old castle was demolished and a new one built. 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.

Amongst post-medieval buildings in England which are known as castles, there is Peckforton Castle, which is exceptional in its authenticity; many others such as Clearwell Castle which have some castle-like features; and some like Mereworth Castle which bear no resemblance whatsoever to a castle. Buildings which neither have the appearance of castles, nor incorporate the remains of castles in their fabric, are excluded from this list: amongst these are Bolebroke Castle, Bovey Castle, Bruce Castle, Castle Ashby, Castle Howard, Clifton Castle, Highclere Castle, Mereworth Castle, New Wardour Castle, Sherborne Castle, Wentworth Castle and Wisbech Castle. Many other buildings which do have some castle-like features are nonetheless excluded: amongst these are Acton Castle, Allerton Castle, Augill Castle, Avon Castle, Bell's Castle, Bolesworth Castle, Bude Castle, Castle Eden Castle, Castle Goring, Cave Castle, Clearwell Castle, Cliffe Castle, Coates Castle, Creech Castle, Droskyn Castle, Edmond Castle, Enmore Castle, Ewell Castle, Farleigh Castle, Farley Castle, Fillingham Castle, Hatherop Castle, Headingley Castle, Highcliffe Castle, Hilfield Castle, Kenwith Castle, Kirby Knowle Castle, Knepp Castle, Luscombe Castle, Midford Castle, Mulgrave Castle, Otterburn Tower, Pentillie Castle, Reeve Castle, Ryde Castle, St. Clare Castle, Sibdon Castle, Sneaton Castle, Stanhope Castle, Studley Castle, Swinton Castle, The Citadel (Weston-under-Redcastle), Tregenna Castle, Vanbrugh Castle, Wadhurst Castle, Wattisham Castle, Whitehaven Castle, Whitstable Castle, Willersley Castle and Willsbridge Castle.

Artificial ruins and follies, often built as memorials or landscape features, are also excluded: amongst these are Appley Tower, Black Castle, Bladon Castle, Blaise Castle, Bollitree Castle, Boston Castle, Braylsham Castle, Broadway Tower, Carr Hall Castle, Castlebourne, Clent Castle, Clopton Tower, Dinton Castle, Doyden Castle, Dunstall Castle, Durlston Castle, Fort Putnam, Hadlow Castle, Castle in Hagley Park Lawrence Castle, Long's Park Castle, Mow Cop Castle, Mowbray Castle, Pirton Castle, Radford Castle, Radway Tower, Ragged Castle (Badminton), Rivington Castle, Rodborough Fort, Ross Castle, Rothley Castle, Roundhay Castle, Sebergham Castle, Severndroog Castle, Shaldon Castle, Sham Castle (Bath), Sledmere Castle, Speedwell Castle, Stainborough Castle, Starlight Castle, Stowe Castle, Strattenborough Castle, Sundorne Castle, Toll House (Clevedon) and Wyke Castle. Finally, the 16th-century Henrician Castles, whose design was closely inspired by medieval castles, are included, but later military fortifications—with just a few exceptions—are not.

However carefully constructed might be the basis for including a building or site on a list such as this, it is inevitable there will be borderline cases, or distinctions made which seem arbitrary or difficult to justify. Many buildings which are known to incorporate northern pele towers in their fabric, but which are no longer castle-like, such as the Red Lion Tower in Haltwhistle, have been excluded from the list. On the other hand Corby Castle, in which a pele tower has been wholly encased in a later building, is included because it is known as a castle, and by implication therefore in some part continued to fulfil the role of one. Kimbolton Castle has been 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.