Beeston Castle
Has been described as a Certain Masonry Castle, and also as a Certain Urban Defence
There are masonry ruins/remnants remains
Name | Beeston Castle |
Alternative Names | Castle of the Rock; Castle de Rupe |
Historic Country | Cheshire |
Modern Authority | Cheshire |
1974 Authority | Cheshire |
Civil Parish | Beeston |
Built by Ranulf de Blundeville, 6th Earl of Chester c1220 altered late C13/early C14. Crudely coursed red sandstone. Roughly rectangular enclosure of which approximately half is now demolished. Entrance front: central gateway with D-shaped towers with lateral arrow slits and central pointed gate-arch with rebate. The left-hand turret has the voussoirs of a blocked pointed arch to the lower wall. To the left is curtain walling with the lower courses of a further D-shaped tower. To the right is a similar stretch of walling roughly repaired with rubble at its centre with a D-shaped tower slightly to the left of the right hand corner. The right hand (eastern) wall has a similar D-shaped tower to the centre of the wall. On the death of Ranulf de Blundeville's nephew the castle passed to the Crown. In the late C13 and early C14 Edward I carried out modernising alterations including raising the height of the inner bailey walls and crenellating them. By the late C16 Leland described the castle as "shattered and ruinous". In 1643 it was partially repaired and occupied by parliamentary troops and taken by Royalist forces in the same year. It was partially demolished in 1646 to prevent its repeated use as a stronghold. Archaeological evidence of Bronze and Iron age settlements on the site has been found. King suggests the large outer ward may have been a town enclosure, presumably for an abortive borough, but this suggestion has not been taken up by other authors. (Derived from PastScape and others)
This site is a scheduled monument protected by law
This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law
Historic England Scheduled Monument Number
Historic England Listed Building number(s)
Images Of England
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid Reference | SJ538592 |
Latitude | 53.1287002563477 |
Longitude | -2.69354009628296 |
Eastings | 353800 |
Northings | 359220 |