Ardley Castle

Ardley Castle lies southwest of Ardley village in Oxfordshire. Only ruins remain today, including an oval enclosure about ninety-one metres across, a shallow ditch roughly a metre deep, a ruined moat and earthworks. The site once formed part of Offa of Mercia’s old encampment. In the 12th century Hugh of Avranches, Earl of Chester, raised a manor into a small castle to defend his lands during the war between King Stephen and Empress Matilda. The castle was built without royal permission, making it an adulterine castle. Ranulf de Gernon, the fourth Earl of Chester, used it at times during the conflict. In 1136 attackers tried to take the castle but were driven back. After Ranulf’s death the Treaty of Wallingford in 1153 ordered all adulterine castles to be demolished. During Henry II’s reign the castle was either pulled down or abandoned and gradually fell into ruin. By 1823 only the ruins were visible. That year work also revealed underground tunnels linking the old manor house to the castle site. Visitors today walk among the grass-grown earthworks and imagine the castle that once stood there. The remains show the outline of the oval enclosure and the remains of the moat. The quiet fields around Ardley hold traces of the past.