Tamworth Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Perched on a Norman motte overlooking the confluence of the Tame and the Anker, Tamworth Castle is one of the rare English examples of a motte crowned by a stone shell keep that remained continuously inhabited for centuries. Its crenellated polygonal silhouette now overlooks the Castle Grounds municipal park, in the heart of the town. The complex layers several phases: the late 11th-century motte, the Marmions' shell keep and tower of the late 12th century, the access ramp flanked by herringbone-masonry walls, then a 15th-century great hall and Elizabethan and Jacobean lodgings fitted out by the Ferrers family. Romantic restorations around the turn of the 19th century added battlements, windows and interior decoration. Owned by the town since 1897, the castle has become a museum presenting a succession of interiors, from the medieval hall to Victorian bedrooms. It is both a scheduled monument and a Grade I listed building, which underlines how rare such residential continuity on a castle motte is.