Maxey Castle

Maxey Castle stands in the flat fenland of Cambridgeshire, east of England. It was a medieval fortified manor house built in the 1370s by William Thorpe beside the village of Maxey. The castle had a double moat, perhaps meant to hold back flood water, and a central keep inside a curtain wall with corner towers. Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby, lived here in the 15th century while her son Henry VII was still a prince. Today only parts of the moats remain, but they are protected as a scheduled monument. The site is worth the journey for anyone interested in medieval defences and noble life. William Thorpe’s choice of a fenland site shows how water shaped castle design in the 14th century. Margaret Beaufort’s time here links the castle to the Wars of the Roses and the rise of the Tudor dynasty. The double moat is unusual and may have doubled as a fishpond for the household. Though the keep is gone, the surviving earthworks still mark the castle’s strong position. Visitors find grassy banks and water-filled ditches where the moats once defended the keep. The flat fields around show how the fenland’s wet landscape influenced the castle’s plan. A low rise marks the keep’s former site, and the corner towers’ foundations can still be traced. The scheduled monument status keeps the remains protected for future study. The quiet lanes of Maxey lead to the site, where a short walk brings the medieval world into view.