Hedingham Castle

Hedingham Castle stands in the village of Castle Hedingham, Essex, on a raised spur above the Colne Valley. Built by the de Vere family soon after the Norman Conquest, the castle’s massive stone keep was begun in the 1130s and completed within a decade. A deep ditch was cut through the spur to create an inner bailey, while an outer bailey stretched south into the valley where the modern village now lies. The keep is almost square, its walls more than ten metres thick at the base, faced with ashlar from Northamptonshire. Two of the four corner turrets are missing, removed in the Tudor period for other building projects. The castle’s history is tied to the de Vere earls of Oxford, who held it for centuries except during the Wars of the Roses. Matilda of Boulogne died here in 1152, and the castle withstood two short sieges in 1216 and 1217. In the 17th century Sir William Ashhurst built a red-brick mansion in the outer bailey, later inherited by the Majendie family. Today the keep remains the most complete Norman example in England, its five floors still showing the great hall’s tall fireplace and central arch. Visitors walk through the inner bailey to the keep’s ground floor, then climb to the banqueting hall on the first floor. Above, further rooms open onto narrow passages and the restored parapets. Outside, the brick bridge links inner and outer baileys, and the grounds host jousting, falconry and summer concerts. The surrounding countryside spreads out from the keep’s commanding height, offering views across the Colne Valley.