Herstmonceux Castle

Herstmonceux Castle is a brick-built castle, dating from the 15th century, near Herstmonceux, East Sussex, England. It is one of the oldest significant brick buildings still standing in England. The castle was renowned for being one of the first buildings to use that material in England, built using bricks made from local clay by builders from Flanders. It dates from 1441. Construction began under the then-owner, Sir Roger Fiennes, and was continued after his death in 1449 by his son, Lord Dacre.

The castle was sold in 1708 to George Naylor. His descendant, Robert Hare-Naylor, had the interior of the castle demolished in 1776–77 to turn it into a picturesque landscape feature in the grounds of Herstmonceux Place. In the early twentieth century, the castle was restored in two separate building campaigns for Colonel Claude Lowther and Sir Paul Latham. Herstmonceux was gifted to Queen's University at Kingston, a Canadian university, in 1993 by Alfred and Isabel Bader.

The parks and gardens of Herstmonceux Castle and Place are Grade II* listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. Other listed structures on the Herstmonceux estate include the Grade II listed walled garden to the north of the castle, and the Grade II* listed telescopes and workshops of the Herstmonceux Science Centre.

Text adapted from “Herstmonceux Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Herstmonceux Castle ranks #963 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #68 of the 329 mapped in England. Founded 1401, it is older than 52% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 434 atlas entries founded in the 15th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 5,803 times in the last 60 days, more than 86% of the atlas. 5 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Eastbourne, 12 km away. See how England compares in the castle statistics.

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