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Opening Times:
MARCH 2007 TO MARCH 2008
1 March to 31 May: 10am to 5pm daily
1 June to 31 August: 10am to 6pm daily
1 September to 31 October: 10am to 5pm daily
1 November to 28 February: 10am to 4pm daily
Closed 24 to 26 December and 1 January
Entry Prices (from 24 March 2006)
Adults: £5.90
Concessions: £4.40
Children: £3.00
Under 5’s: admission free
Family (2 adults & 3 children): £14.80
English Heritage members: admission free
Different prices apply on Event Days – please phone
for details |
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English Heritage
Tel: 01926 852078
Fax: 01926 851514
www.english-heritage.org.uk/kenilworthcastle |
“Described by many as the definitive English Castle”
Simon
Jenkins, England’s Thousand Best Houses
Immortalised
and romanticised by Sir Walter Scott in his early 19th
century novel, Kenilworth is probably one of the finest
ruined castles to be seen in Britain today. Dramatically
portrayed amidst the gentle rolling countryside of
Warwickshire, Kenilworth Castle is a memorable landmark of
the powerful Normans, and a fitting memorial to the power
games of Elizabethan England. The inner court contains a
range of ruinous buildings dating from the 12th to the 16th
century, including Leicester's Building. Remaining
substantially intact are the great Tudor gatehouse and
stabling block located in the outer court, both from Robert
Dudley's time. From a 17th century plan, the Tudor gardens
have been reconstructed in the form of a parterre.
Kenilworth Castle has been intimately linked with some of
the most important names in English history. Today, with its
Tudor gardens, its impressive Norman ‘keep’ and John of
Gaunt’s Great Hall, it is the largest castle ruin in
England.
The first castle at Kenilworth was built 50 years after the
Norman conquest when Henry I gave the Royal Estate of
Stoneleigh to Geoffrey de Clinton. Henry II took over the
castle 50 years later, to counter an attack from his son’s
rebel army. It was then extended by King John, who also
transformed the Mere (great lake) into one of the Castle’s
most illustrious features and the country’s largest manmade
lake.
Kenilworth stayed in royal hands until 1253, when the King’s
brother-in-law Simon de Montfort (Earl of Leicester) was
made governor by Henry III. De Montfort fell foul of Henry
III in leading a popular baronial revolt for reform, after
which he founded the first parliament in 1265. Simon de
Montfort was killed in the battle of Evesham in 1265 and his
body dismembered. The supporters of his eldest surviving son
(also Simon) held Kenilworth for a year after the battle ,
despite generous offers of surrender from the king and the
siege at Kenilworth was one of the longest in English
history lasting for over six months. The siege was only
ended by disease and famine within the castle.
The ‘round table of one hundred knights’ and their ladies
took place in 1279 and Kenilworth was one of a small number
of licensed tournament grounds where knights were able to
meet.
Edward II was imprisoned at the Castle for a time. Here he
abdicated, before being taken to his death at Berkeley
Castle in 1326.
John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, acting as protector for
the young Richard II, remodelled the buildings into a
palace,and built the magnificent hall and private apartments
overlooking the Mere. The Great Hall with it's hammer-beam
roof was the prototype for Westminster Hall. John of Gaunt’s
son, Henry Bolingbroke, eventually deposed Richard and
became Henry IV, meaning that Kenilworth was once again
Royal property - something that continued through to the
reign of Elizabeth I.
Henry V built himself a retreat and banqueting hall at the
end of an arm of the Mere. Here he received the insulting
gift of tennis balls from the French Dauphin (Shakespeare:
Henry V, Act 1, scene 2), and it was to here that he
returned after his success at the Battle of Agincourt in
1415. In due course he was re-united with his new French
Queen, Katherine, for the first time on English soil, here
at the Pleasaunce.
One of the castle’s most famous periods was the 16th
century, when it was acquired by the Dudley family. When
Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, took possession of
Kenilworth Castle in the 1560s he continued the building and
modernisation work, and the creation of formal gardens. The
building of an impressive new gatehouse at the northern
boundary, and his luxurious suite of Tudor
apartments meant
that the Castle was ready to entertain the Queen. Elizabeth
I visited several times, and in 1575 she and her entourage
were lavishly entertained for three weeks with pageants,
music, dancing, fireworks, hunting and feasting. It is
reputed that the entertainments at Kenilworth almost
bankrupted Dudley. Sir Walter Scott (in 1821) wrote of these
pageants in his novel 'Kenilworth'. The Castle has also
featured in Charles Dickens’ Domby and Son (albeit briefly –
in Chapter 26!)
After the death of Robert Dudley, Kenilworth Castle returned
to the Crown. During the Civil War it changed hands several
times, and after the War the Lord Protector (Cromwell)
ordered the demolition of parts of the Keep and the draining
of the Mere to ensure that it could not be used as a
defensive fortress again.
When the Monarchy was restored, Kenilworth Castle passed to
the Villiers family (later Earl of Clarendon) until 1938
when Lord Kenilworth placed his property in the care of the
nation. In 1958 his son gave it to the people of Kenilworth
and in 1984 English Heritage took over the role of
maintaining the Castle.
The Castle is one of the jewels of the properties that
English Heritage manages and it plays host to a huge number
of events every year.
Click here for an interactive map of
the Castle >>
“Renaissance charm in this
mediaeval place”
– Simon Jenkins
