England · 16th century
Thornbury Castle is a Tudor castle in the town of Thornbury, in Gloucestershire, England, erected next to the parish church of St Mary. Construction was begun in 1511 as a further residence for Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham (1478–1521), of Stafford Castle in Staffordshire. It is not a true military fortress but rather an early example of a Tudor country house, with minimal defensive attributes.
As at Richmond Palace in Surrey, the main ranges of Thornbury framed courts, of which the symmetrical entrance range, with central gatehouse and octagonal corner towers, survives, together with two less regular side ranges with many irregular projecting features and towers. It is now a Grade I listed building that is operated as a hotel.
Text adapted from “Thornbury Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Thornbury Castle ranks #2,466 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #163 of the 360 mapped in England. Founded 1511, it is older than 42% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 891 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 5,740 times in the last 60 days, more than 88% of the atlas. 7 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Bristol, 18 km away. See how England compares in the castle statistics.
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