Penrith Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Stricklands Pele Tower

In the civil parish of Penrith.
In the historic county of Cumberland (Modern Authority of Cumbria, 1974 county of Cumbria).

In 1397 William Strickland obtained a licence to strengthen and crenellate his tower. Two years later a further licence was granted to build a barmkin. The pele tower has external dimensions of 10m by 8.8m width walls 2.3m thick and over 1m high. A doorway in its south western side gives access into a substantial yard measuring 36m square internally which is enclosed by a high barmkin or curtain wall. This wall still stands virtually to its full height on the south east and much of the south west sides but is considerably reduced in height elsewhere. The yard would have contained timber buildings associated with the pele tower. In the early C15 Richard II gave the town and manor of Penrith to Ralph Nevill, Earl of Westmorland, and the new owner added the Red Tower to Stricklands Pele Tower, began construction of the internal buildings in stone. These internal buildings included a great chamber, a chapel, a private chamber and great hall, kitchens, and the White Tower. The castle was later extended beyond the north west wall. In 1471 Richard, Duke of Gloucester, continued the internal building and added a substantial outer gateway on the north western side, enlarging the structure into a royal castle. The moat was added in the late C15. Further improvements made, but by 1572 the castle was partly ruinous, much stone having been taken away for use in other buildings in the town.

This site has been described as a;
Masonry Castle
Tower House.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Masonry ruins/remnants remains.

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1397 Feb 12.

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1399 April 2.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This site is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 72957)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is NY51342973

Modern Map from Good for landscape form and features	Modern Map from Good for general location
Air Photo from	1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 11975

County Sites and Monuments Record number; 2827, 2878

• Web site links
  • http://www.visitcumbria.com/pen/penrithc.htm
    http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_north/90/penrithcastle.htm
    http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/conProperty.157
• Books
  • Yates, Sarah (ed), 2002, Heritage Unlocked; Guide to free sites in the North West (English Heritage) p38-9
    Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (CWAAS) 212-3
    Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern) p80-1
    Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p168
    Emery, Anthony, 1996, Greater Medieval Houses Vol1 (Cambridge) p237-9, 263
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p46
    Cope, Jean, 1991, Castles in Cumbria (Cicerone Press) p109-10
    Jackson, M.J.,1990, Castles of Cumbria (Carel Press) p80-1 [plan]
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p89-90
    Clare, T., 1981, Archaeological Sites of the Lake District p58-63
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p274
    Hugill, Robert, 1977, Castles and Peles of Cumberland and Westmorland (Newcastle; Frank Graham) p155-8
    Colvin, H.M., Ransome, D.R. and Summerson, John, 1975, The history of the King's Works, Vol3: 1485-1660 (part 1) (London) p226n, 403
    Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1967, Buildings of England: Cumberland and Westmorland (Harmondsworth) p175
    Curwen, J.F., 1913, Castles and Fortified Towers of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands (Kendal) p189-90, 219-23
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol2 p327-8
    Taylor, M.W., 1892, The Old Manorial Halls of Westmorland and Cumberland (CWAAS extra series Vol8) p244-52
    Clark, G.T., 1884, Medieval Military Architecture in England  (Wyman and Sons) Vol2 p357-9
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p420
    Lysons, D. and S., 1816, Magna Britannia Vol4 Cumberland p. cciii-ccvi [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/source.asp?pubid=404]
    Buck, Samuel and Nathenial, 1774, Buck’s Antiquities (London) Vol1 p48
    Grose, F., 1756, Antiquities of England and Wales Vol1 p61-3
• Journal Articles
  • Petre, J., 1984, ‘The origins of Penrith Castle' The Ricardian Vol6.86 p371-3
    Craster-Chambers, M., 1984, ‘Penrith Castle and Richard Duke of Gloucester' The Ricardian Vol6.86 p374-8
    Bouch, C.M.L., 1947, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol47 p219-20
    Hudleston, F.,1930, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol30 p13-26
    Curwen, J.F., 1918, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol18 p174-88
    Haswell, 1907, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol7 p281-91
    Clark, 1871, The Builder Vol29 p1021
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Calendar of Patent Rolls (1396-99) p66
    Calendar of Patent Rolls (1396-99) p524
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/cumbeng.html#cumb18]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p96, 97
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol5 p54