England · 12th century
Orford Castle is a castle in Orford in the English county of Suffolk, 12 miles (19 km) northeast of Ipswich, with views over Orford Ness. It was built between 1165 and 1173 by Henry II of England to consolidate royal power in the region. The well-preserved keep, described by historian R. Allen Brown as "one of the most remarkable keeps in England", is of a unique design and probably based on Byzantine architecture. The keep stands within the earth-bank remains of the castle's outer fortifications.
Text adapted from “Orford Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Orford Castle ranks #1,920 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #126 of the 360 mapped in England. Founded 1165, it is older than 79% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 756 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 2,032 times in the last 60 days, more than 70% of the atlas. Wikidata records about 31,000 visitors in 2017. 2 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Colchester, 49 km away. See how England compares in the castle statistics.
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