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medieval castle in Warwickshire, England, UK
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Warwick Castle is a medieval castle developed from a wooden fort originally built by William the Conqueror during 1068. The original wooden motte-and-bailey castle overlooking the River Avon was rebuilt in stone during the 12th century. During the Hundred Years War, the facade opposite the town was refortified, resulting in one of the most recognisable examples of 14th-century military architecture. It was used as a stronghold until the early 17th century, when it was granted to Sir Fulke Greville by James I in 1604. Greville converted it to a country house, and it was owned by the Greville family (who became Earls of Warwick in 1759) until 1978, when it was bought by the Tussauds Group.
In 2007, the Tussauds Group was purchased by the Blackstone Group, which merged it with Merlin Entertainments. Warwick Castle was then sold to Nick Leslau's investment firm, Prestbury Group, under a sale and leaseback agreement. Merlin continues to operate the site under a renewable 35-year lease.
Warwick Castle is situated in the town of Warwick, on a sandstone bluff at a bend of the River Avon. The river, which runs below the castle on the east side, has eroded the rock the castle stands on, forming a cliff. The river and cliff form natural defences.
When construction began in 1068, four houses belonging to the Abbot of Coventry were demolished to provide space. The castle's position made it strategically important in safeguarding the Midlands against rebellion.
During the 12th century, King Henry I was suspicious of Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick. To counter the earl's influence, Henry bestowed Geoffrey de Clinton with a position of power rivalling that of the earl.
The lands he was given included Kenilworth – a castle of comparable size, cost, and importance, founded by Clinton – which is about 8 kilometres (5 mi) to the north.
Warwick Castle is about 1.6 kilometres (1 mi) from Warwick railway station and less than 3.2 kilometres (2.0 mi) from junction 15 of the M40 motorway; it is also relatively close to Birmingham Airport.
An Anglo-Saxon burh was established on the site in 914; with fortifications instigated by Æthelflæd, daughter of Alfred the Great. The burh she established was one of ten which defended Mercia against the invading Danes. Its position allowed it to dominate the Fosse Way, as well as the river valley and the crossing over the River Avon. Though the motte to the south-west of the present castle is now called "Ethelfleda's Mound" ('Ethelfleda' being an alternative form of Æthelflæd), it is in fact part of the later Norman fortifications, and not of Anglo-Saxon origin.
It was also at this time, that what is now Warwick School was founded in the castle - making it arguably the oldest boys' school in the country. It still resides just over the River Avon, visible from all of the castle's towers.
After the Norman conquest of England, William the Conqueror established a motte-and-bailey castle at Warwick in 1068 to maintain control of the Midlands as he advanced northwards. Building a castle in a pre-existing settlement could require demolishing properties on the intended site. In the case of Warwick, the least recorded of the 11 urban castles in the 1086 survey, four houses were torn down to make way for the castle. A motte-and-bailey castle consists of a mound – on which usually stands a keep or tower – and a bailey, which is an enclosed courtyard. William II appointed Henry de Beaumont, the son of a powerful Norman family, as constable of the castle. In 1088, Henry de Beaumont was made the first Earl of Warwick. He founded the Church of All Saints within the castle walls by 1119; the Bishop of Worcester, believing that a castle was an inappropriate location for a church, removed it in 1127–28.
In 1153, Gundreda de Warenne was tricked into believing that her husband, Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick, was dead; she then surrendered control of the castle to the invading army of Henry of Anjou, later King Henry II of England. According to the Gesta Regis Stephani, a 12th-century historical text, Roger de Beaumont died upon hearing the news that his wife had handed over the castle. King Henry II later returned the castle to the Earls of Warwick, as they had been supporters of his mother, Empress Matilda, in The Anarchy of 1135–1154.
During the reign of King Henry II (1154–89), the motte-and-bailey was replaced with a stone keep castle. This new phase took the form of a shell keep with all the buildings constructed against the curtain wall. During the Barons' Rebellion of 1173–74, the Earl of Warwick remained loyal to King Henry II, and the castle was used to store provisions. The castle and the lands associated with the earldom passed down to the Beaumont family until 1242. When Thomas de Beaumont, 6th Earl of Warwick, died, the castle and lands passed to his sister, Margaret de Beaumont, 7th Countess of Warwick in her own right. Her first husband, John Marshal, died soon after, and while she looked for a suitable husband, the castle was in the ownership of King Henry III of England. When she married John du Plessis in December 1242, the castle was returned to her. During the Second Barons' War of 1264–67, William Maudit, 8th Earl of Warwick, was a supporter of King Henry III. The castle was taken in a surprise attack by the forces of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, from Kenilworth Castle in 1264. According to 15th-century chronicler John Rous, the walls along the northeastern side of Warwick Castle were slighted, so "that it should be no strength to the king". Maudit and his countess were taken to Kenilworth Castle and were held there until a ransom was paid. After the death of William Maudit in 1267, the title and castle passed to his nephew, William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick. Following William's death, Warwick Castle passed through seven generations of the Beauchamp family, who, over the next 180 years, were responsible for most of the additions made to the castle. In 1312, Piers Gaveston, 1st Earl of Cornwall, was captured by Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick, and imprisoned in Warwick Castle, until his execution on 19 June 1312. A group of magnates led by the Earl of Warwick and Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, accused Gaveston of stealing the royal treasure.
Under Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl, the castle defences were significantly enhanced in 1330–60 on the north eastern side by the addition of a gatehouse, a barbican (a form of fortified gateway), and a tower on either side of the reconstructed wall, named Caesar's Tower and Guy's Tower. The Watergate Tower also dates from this period.
Caesar's and Guy's Towers are residential and may have been inspired by French models (for example Bricquebec). Both towers are machicolated and Caesar's Tower features a unique double parapet. The two towers are also vaulted in stone on every storey. Caesar's Tower contained a grim basement dungeon; according to local legend dating back to at least 1644 it is also known as Poitiers Tower, either because prisoners from the Battle of Poitiers in 1356 may have been imprisoned there, or because the ransoms raised from the battle helped to pay for its construction. The gatehouse features murder holes, two drawbridges, a gate, and portcullises – gates made from wood or metal. The towers of the gatehouse were machicolated.
The facade overlooking the river was designed as a symbol of the power and wealth of the Beauchamp earls and would have been "of minimal defensive value"; this followed a trend of 14th-century castles being more statements of power than designed exclusively for military use.
The line of the Beauchamp Earls ended in 1449 when Anne de Beauchamp, 15th Countess of Warwick, died. Richard Neville, the Kingmaker, became the next Earl of Warwick through his wife's inheritance of the title. During the summer of 1469, Neville rebelled against King Edward IV of England and imprisoned him in Warwick Castle. Neville attempted to rule in the King's name; however, constant protests by the King's supporters forced the Earl to release the King. Neville was subsequently killed in the Battle of Barnet, fighting against the King in 1471 during the Wars of the Roses.
Warwick Castle then passed from Neville to his son-in-law, George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence (brother of King Edward IV). George Plantagenet was executed in 1478, and his lands passed onto his son, Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick; however, Edward Plantagenet was only two when his father died, so his lands were taken in the custody of The Crown. He was placed under attainder, and so could not inherit the throne, by King Henry VII of England, being held by the King for fourteen years in the Tower of London until he was executed for high treason in 1499, supposedly for conspiring to escape with the 'pretender' Perkin Warbeck. Edward was the last Earl of Warwick of the title's first creation.
In the early 1480s, King Richard III of England (the other son-in-law of Neville) instigated the construction of two gun towers, Bear and Clarence Towers, which were left unfinished on his death in 1485; with their own well and ovens, the towers were an independent stronghold from the rest of the castle, possibly in case of mutiny by the garrison. With the advent of gunpowder, the position of Keeper of the Artillery was created in 1486.
When antiquary John Leland visited the castle some time between 1535 and 1543, he noted that:
... the dungeon now in ruin standeth in the west-north-west part of the castle. There is also a tower west-north-west, and through it a postern-gate of iron. All the principal lodgings of the castle with the hall and chapel lie on the south side of the castle, and here the king doth much cost in making foundations in the rocks to sustain that side of the castle, for great pieces fell out of the rocks that sustain it.
While in the care of The Crown, Warwick Castle underwent repairs and renovations using about 500 loads of stone. The castle, as well as lands associated with the earldom, was in Crown care from 1478 until 1547, when they were granted to John Dudley with the second creation of the title the Earl of Warwick.
When making his appeal for ownership of the castle Dudley said of the castle's condition: "... the castle of its self is not able to lodge a good baron with his train, for all the one side of the said castle with also the dungeon tower is clearly ruinated and down to the ground".
Warwick Castle had fallen into decay due to its age and neglect, and despite his remarks Dudley did not initiate any repairs to the castle. Queen Elizabeth I visited the castle in 1566 during a tour of the country, and again in 1572 for four nights. A timber building was erected in the castle for her to stay in, and Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, left the castle to the Queen during her visits.
When Ambrose Dudley died in 1590 the title of Earl of Warwick became extinct for the second time. A survey from 1590 recorded that the castle was still in a state of disrepair, noting that lead had been stolen from the roofs of some of the castle's buildings, including the chapel.
In October 1601 Sir Fulke Greville wrote that "the little stone building there was, mightily in decay, the timber lodgings built thirty years ago for herself (Elizabeth I) all ruinous; ... so as in very short time there will be nothing left but a name of Warwick".
Greville was granted the ruinous Warwick Castle by King James I in 1604 and it was converted to a country house. The conversion of the castle coincided with a period of decline in the use of castles during the 15th and 16th centuries; many were either being abandoned or converted into comfortable residences for the gentry. In the early 17th century, Robert Smythson was commissioned to draw a plan of the castle before any changes were made. Whilst the castle was undergoing repairs, it was peripherally involved in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. The conspirators involved awaited news of their plot in Dunchurch in Warwickshire. When they discovered the plot had failed they stole cavalry horses from the stables at Warwick Castle to help in their escape.
When the title of Earl of Warwick was created for the third time in 1618, the Greville family were still in possession of Warwick Castle. Fulke Greville, who was himself ennobled as Baron Brooke in 1621, spent over £20,000 (£4 million as of 2025) renovating the castle, while occupying a suite of rooms in the Watergate Tower; according to William Dugdale, a 17th-century antiquary, this made it "a place not only of great strength but extraordinary delight, with most pleasant gardens, walks and thickets, such as this part of England can hardly parallel".
Text from the Wikipedia article “Warwick Castle”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.