Website Summary
This site contains information on over 800 English and Welsh castles, fortified manor houses, Bishop's palaces and Pele towers constructed over the last twenty centuries.
These range from the most impressive and powerful of structures like
Dover Castle to worn earthworks that are all that are now left of sites such as
Elmley Castle. There is also information on 250 of the mainly 18th and 19th century coastal forts and gun batteries that can still be seen, mainly around the south coast of England.
History
The first stone fortifications were constructed by the Romans in the 1st Century, and they were so well built as at
Portchester that many are still standing. The next wave of castle building started in all the major towns and cities after the Norman
invasion and between 1066 and 1200 well over two and a half thousand castles were erected. Most were simple earth and timber structures and have now either vanished or exist only as a motte, a grassy mound, or earthworks........
more
Using the Site
Use the Maps menu to select one of the 12 regions of England & Wales and then either click on the castle icons, or use the dropdown lists on each of the map pages. To find a specific castle or fortification use either the Search menu for A - Z listings or use the Site Map to search by county.
Photographs
775 of the sites have been photographed so far with your help. If you have any photos of the castles or forts not yet photographed - click
here for some of the sites - then please
email me
Books on Castles
Mike Salter has lovingly produced a set of 34 paperbacks which cover in great detail ALL the castles and other sites in the UK county by county. For more info visit
Folly Publications ......... and take a book with you as you travel around!
