Woodstock Palace

Woodstock Palace was a royal residence in the English town of Woodstock, Oxfordshire.

Henry I of England built a hunting lodge here and in 1129 he built 7 miles (11 km) of walls to create the first enclosed park, where lions and leopards were kept. The lodge became a palace under Henry's grandson, Henry II, who spent time here with his mistress, Rosamund Clifford ("Fair Rosamund"). Henry III frequently visited the palace for entertainment, including once in 1237 when he invited his long-confined cousin Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany.

It continued to be used, as one of the large number of royal residences, through the Middle Ages and Tudor period, and sometimes under the early Stuarts, but was largely destroyed in the English Civil War. Several decades later, the park was given to John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough and Blenheim Palace built there, removing what traces remained of the medieval house.

Text adapted from “Woodstock Palace” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Woodstock Palace ranks #947 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #67 of the 329 mapped in England. Founded 1129, it is older than 85% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 544 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 6,921 times in the last 60 days, more than 89% of the atlas. 4 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Oxford, 12 km away. See how England compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗