Astley Castle

Astley Castle stands beside a moat in the Warwickshire countryside as a ruined 16th-century manor house. The rectangular two-storey building with embattled parapets was rebuilt in 1555 by the Greys after earlier licence to crenellate in 1266. The Astley family had held the manor since the 12th century, though no true castle ever existed there. Sir John Grey’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville linked the house to three queens: his wife, their daughter Elizabeth of York, and his granddaughter Lady Jane Grey. During the English Civil War the castle became a Parliamentary garrison under Captain Hunt, a former shoemaker commanding thirty-five soldiers. The castle’s fortunes declined after the Greys’ disgrace and again after a 1978 hotel fire left it derelict. Decades of neglect followed until a 2012 restoration by Witherford Watson Mann Architects created modern holiday accommodation within the surviving Renaissance walls. In 2013 the project won the RIBA Stirling Prize for blending contemporary design with ancient fabric. The judges called it an exceptional example of reusing a monument without erasing its past. Visitors now walk through rooms where sixteenth-century stone fireplaces meet polished concrete floors and frameless glass. The moat still surrounds the house, crossed by a restored bridge and gatehouse remains. Outside, the North Warwickshire landscape stretches away from embattled parapets that once carried lookouts. Inside, sliding screens and discreet services sit beside exposed Tudor brickwork and mullioned windows. The result is a quiet place where old and new stand together without competing.