20 Questions

Test your knowledge of English castles with our quiz. Click on each question to reveal the answer.

1. Which castle was the childhood home of Richard III?

Answer: Middleham Castle

Building of the present Middleham Castle, in North Yorkshire, was started some time in the late 12th century. Richard entered the household at Middleham at the age of 13, in 1465, and remained there until 1468.

2. Elizabeth I granted which castle to one of her favourites, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester?

Answer: Kenilworth Castle and Elizabethan Garden

In 1563, Elizabeth I granted Kenilworth to Robert Dudley, who embellished both the castle and its surrounding landscape to impress the queen. She visited four times and her visit in 1575 was the longest she made to any courtier during her reign.

3. King Henry II built the Great Tower at the heart of Dover Castle in Kent in which decade - 1090s; 1180s; 1260s; or 1310s?

Answer: 1180s

Henry II remodelled the castle in the 1180s. He envisioned the Great Tower as a palace in which to entertain visitors, as well as being an important defensive element.

4. Castle Acre Castle in Norfolk was founded after the Battle of Hastings by which close associate of William the Conqueror?

Answer: The first William de Warenne

Castle Acre Castle was begun in the 1070s by William I de Warenne, who had fought in the Battle of Hastings. Within three generations, the family had created the castle, surrounded the town with ramparts and established its Cluniac priory.

5. Totnes Castle in Devon is a classic example of what type of castle?

Answer: A Norman motte-and-bailey castle

Totnes Castle was founded soon after the Norman Conquest to overawe the Saxon town. From the top of the keep are stunning views over Totnes and across to the River Dart.

6. Can you identify this dramatically located castle (pictured below)?

Answer: Tintagel Castle

A community flourished here in the 5th to 7th centuries and, in the 12th century, Geoffrey of Monmouth named it as the place where King Arthur was conceived. Richard, Earl of Cornwall, subsequently built the castle at Tintagel in the 1230s.

8. Which of the following castles is sited on a rocky promontory above the River Swale and is among the oldest Norman stone fortresses in Britain? Barnard Castle; Bowes Castle; Middleham Castle; Richmond Castle

Answer: Richmond Castle.

Richmond Castle is the best-preserved example of an early Norman castle in England. Building of the castle started in the late 11th century and it was expanded in the 12th century, when the keep was built.

9. Ed Sheeran's song, Castle on the Hill, which reached number two in 2017, was inspired by which castle?

Answer: Framlingham Castle

Framlingham is Ed Sheeran's home town. Castle on a Hill was released in January 2017. It has spent 53 weeks in the charts (including five weeks at number two) and has gone triple-platinum.

10. Who built the Riding House at Bolsover Castle in Derbyshire – now considered to be a landmark in British equestrianism?

Answer: William Cavendish

William Cavendish inherited Bolsover from his father, Charles. He went into exile after fighting for the Royalists during the Civil War but returned in 1660, when he built the cavernous Riding House Range.

11. Old Wardour Castle in Wiltshire was used as a location in which 1991 film?

Answer: Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Old Wardour Castle was used as the setting for the ruin of Locksley Castle, Robin's family home. The castle's advantage for the film-makers was that, depending on the angle from which it is viewed, it appears either intact or ruined.

12. Can you identify the English Heritage castle from the three images (below)?

Answer: Goodrich Castle.

Goodrich Castle, near Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire, is one of the best-preserved English medieval castles. It is positioned above the River Wye and boasts spectacular views from the battlements.

13. Which of the following castles was the landing place of William the Conqueror's army in 1066? Dover Castle; Hurst Castle; Pevensey Castle; Walmer Castle and Gardens.

Answer: Pevensey Castle.

Pevensey Castle was begun in the 4th century and was one of the last of the Roman Saxon Shore forts. After the Norman Conquest, a Norman castle was built within one corner of the fort.

14. St Mawes Castle, which is near Truro in Cornwall, is one of a chain of coastal artillery forts built by which king?

Answer: Henry VIII

St Mawes Castle is one of the forts built by Henry VIII between 1539 and 1545 to counter the threat of invasion from the Catholic countries of France and Spain.

15. Sorviodunum was the Roman name for which settlement, which was thought to be a fort in Roman times and later housed a medieval castle?

Answer: Old Sarum

An Iron Age hillfort may have been established at the site, in Salisbury in Wiltshire, in about 400BC. It was occupied shortly after the Roman conquest of Britain, which took place in AD43.

16. Which animals have been used for hundreds of years at Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight to draw up water in the well-house?

Answer: Donkeys

There have been donkeys at Carisbrooke since the 1690s. They are incredibly strong and intelligent animals, which is why donkeys have been used throughout history as a preferred working animal.

17. Dunstanburgh Castle in Northumberland was built in the early 14th century by one of the wealthiest noblemen in England. Who was he?

Answer: Thomas, Earl of Lancaster

The castle was built at a time when relations between King Edward II and his most powerful baron, the Earl of Lancaster, had become openly hostile. Lancaster began the fortress in 1313 but failed to reach Dunstanburgh when his rebellion was defeated, and was executed in 1322.

18. The keep of Peveril Castle in Derbyshire was built in 1176 by which king?

Answer: Henry II

Peveril is one of the earliest Norman fortresses in England and it was the administrative focus of the Royal Forest of the Peak, a royal hunting preserve since the 11th century.

19. The Queen Mother's Garden at Walmer Castle and Gardens, near Deal in Kent, was created to honour which of the Queen Mother's birthdays?

Answer: Her 95th birthday.

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother was Lord Warden from 1978 until 2002 and a garden was created at Walmer in honour of her 95th birthday, in 1995, by the leading garden designer Penelope Hobhouse.

20. During a long siege from 1644–45 at Beeston Castle in Cheshire, Royalists defending the castle were so low on food they were apparently forced to eat what?

Answer: Cats.

After the defeat of Charles I at the Battle of Rowton Heath, near Chester, in September 1645 there was little point in the Royalists continuing to hold out at Beeston Castle. By this stage the garrison had apparently been forced to eat cats. The victorious Parliamentarians found that 'there was neither meate, Ale nor Beere found in the Castle'.

English Heritage