Dacre Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Dacre Castle is a fortified tower house (pele tower) standing in the village of Dacre, south-west of Penrith, within the boundary of the Lake District National Park. It occupies a spur between Dacre Beck to the south and a ravine to the north, at the heart of a moated site whose partly water-filled moat and earthworks are remarkably well preserved. Built in the 14th century by the de Dacre family, who gave it their name, it illustrates the type of defensive lordly residence characteristic of the Anglo-Scottish Marches. Its massive silhouette, with four corner turrets and crowned by crenellated parapets, makes it one of the most complete examples of its kind in Cumbria. Abandoned and then restored in the late 17th century by Thomas Lennard, Earl of Sussex, whose arms still adorn the facade, it was remodelled again in the 19th and 20th centuries and remains a habitable building.