Berkhamsted Castle

A visit to the local castle, a 5-minute walk from our offices to Berkhamsted Castle on a windy sunny day to look at our local heritage. Standing on top of the former keep I took some photographs looking down the moat with views of the inner ditches that sweep around the Bailey and castle defence walls. You can still see the old well from the top and the motte which is quite steep with a roped handrail and remains of the medieval steps leading down crossing over the moat.

A lot of the stone walls are still visible although large parts are missing you can meander in and out of them and along the inner ditches. From the top of the keep you can see the skyline of Berkhamsted with the railway crossing the southern side of the castle walls. Today, the grounds had families congregating having quiet sunny picnics beside the keeper’s house which stands on the entrance.

Historically, the castle was built after the Norman conquest in 1066 and was likely constructed by William the Conqueror himself or his half-brother who owned it at the same time as writing the Domesday Book which listed all the shires in England and holdings owed to William. The castle attacked in 1216 during the Civil War between King John and Prince Louis of France, of which the castle was battered by huge stones flung from siege weapons over a period of twenty days.

There is much history connected to the castle on how it became Richard III’s favourite castle for being close to London. In 1580 parts of the stone walls were used to build Berkhamsted Place a local school and other buildings in and around Berkhamsted which you can see today.