Penrith Castle

History

Ralph Neville, later the 1st Earl of Westmorland, was granted the manor of Penrith in 1396 and probably began building Penrith Castle soon afterwards to defend northwest England from Scottish raids. The castle is first mentioned in documents in 1412, and it stands on what some people believe was the site of an old Roman fort. The castle was once credited to William Strickland, Bishop of Carlisle, but this is now doubted. The Nevilles were one of the most powerful families in England.

Early in the 15th century, either Ralph's widow, Joan Beaufort, or his son Richard, 5th Earl of Salisbury, altered the castle, probably adding the Red Tower and improving the entrance, and Richard made the castle his headquarters. The castle would pass to his son, also Richard Neville, 6th Earl of Salisbury, and 16th Earl of Warwick, the Kingmaker. The Kingmaker was killed at the Battle of Barnet on April 14th, 1471, and Penrith Castle reverted to the crown and was granted by Edward IV to his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, future King Richard III. Richard would use the castle as a base to hold off the Scots to the north and lived there for several periods between 1471 and 1483, adding a gatehouse and a massive tower. He married the Kingmaker's daughter, Anne Neville, between 1472 and 1474.

The Red Tower.

The castle fell into decay in the 16th century during the Tudor dynasty, and by 1601, lead had been removed from the roofs, and stonework was removed and used to construct other buildings in and around Penrith. In 1648, during the English Civil War, a detachment of Parliamentarian soldiers under General John Lambert used Penrith Castle as their headquarters for a month. The castle was dismantled after the war and was described as in ruins by 1695.

In 1696, William III gave the castle ruins to William Bentinck, who became the Earl of Portland, and they passed to the Dukes of Devonshire in 1787. By 1825, the site was being used as a farm.

The remains of the apartments.

In 1845-1846, the Lancaster & Carlisle Railway Company bought the castle to build Penrith Railway Station, and the work probably removed half of the medieval castle. The castle later passed to the Penrith Urban District Council, and in 1913, it was transferred to His Majesty's Commissioners of Works. Excavations planned for 1914 were paused by the First World War, and the work was nearing completion by 1922. In the 1920s, the council turned the grounds into a public park, and today, Penrith Castle is under the guardianship of English Heritage.

Castle Highlights

Penrith Castle feels lost in time as it sits quietly on the edge of a park across the street from the train station and a McDonald's. Its location in the park is on lower ground and not at the highest point of the hill, which some take as a sign that it was built on the remains of a Roman fort.

The castle is made of red sandstone and retains a good portion of its curtain wall. Inside the castle's courtyard are the foundations for the apartments, hall, kitchen range, and a well. Fragments of the Red Tower also stand at the castle's north end. A dry ditch moat still surrounds the castle, as well as the remains of the outer gatehouse and bridge abutment.

A barred vault door.

Projecting corbels on the eastern front probably supported an open corridor, and the large vaults were probably prisons.

Penrith Castle can be visited in about an hour or two. To make a full day of visiting castles, Brougham Castle is less than two miles away to the east.

Penrith Castle is also haunted.