Preston Castle, Hertfordshire
Has been described as a Rejected Masonry Castle
There are no visible remains
| Name | Preston Castle, Hertfordshire |
| Alternative Names | Castle Farm |
| Historic Country | Hertfordshire |
| Modern Authority | Hertfordshire |
| 1974 Authority | Hertfordshire |
| Civil Parish | Preston |
'Castle Farm on site of Preston Castle' marked on OS 6" 1960. The OS states that 'nothing is known about the castle at the farm and no documentary evidence for it can be found. There are no traces of antiquity at the site. The farmhouse is 19th century, the outbuildings modern' (OS Records).
'Preston Castle (or Hunsdon House) is a house about which very little information is available. The name Preston Castle derives from Captain Robert Hinde, who built earthwork fortifications in the grounds and is said to be the original of Lawrence Sterne's Uncle Toby. An early 19C engraving shows that the house comprised two wings… the older east wing had details of about the middle of the 17C… behind was added a taller early 18C wing of six bays. Hinde provided the entire house with battlemented parapets of uniform height and cross-loops like those of a medieval castle. The whole was demolished in the 19C' (Smith). It was marked 'Castle Farm, on site of Preston Castle' (in archaic lettering) on (OS 1st ed. 6". 1884). The battlements and earthworks presumably dated to the early 18C; 'Uncle Toby' is a character in Sterne's mid 18C novel Tristram Shandy. (Hertfordshire HER)
Castle Farm is the alleged site of Preston Castle: however no evidence has been yet found at the site to support the theory. (PastScape were given monument type includes 'medieval castle')
Not scheduled
Not Listed
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
| OS Map Grid Reference | TL175251 |
| Latitude | 51.912281036377 |
| Longitude | -0.292010009288788 |
| Eastings | 517570 |
| Northings | 225130 |
