Hartshill Castle

Hartshill Castle is a ruined stone castle on the edge of Hartshill village, just outside Nuneaton in Warwickshire. It stands on a ridge above the River Anker, a site used by Stone Age people who came for flint and left traces of their camps. The first wooden castle was built in 1125 by Hugh de Hadreshull to watch over Atherstone. Later owners replaced wood with stone, adding a chapel and high walls. By the 16th century the castle was empty again, and a wattle-and-daub manor house was built in its corner. Today only parts of the walls, tower, chapel and moat remain. The castle is worth visiting for its long layers of history and the chance to see real remains from different ages. Stone Age flints and Ice Age animal bones have been found nearby, showing people used this spot for thousands of years. The timber castle of 1125 was repaired by William de Hadreshull in King John’s reign. Robert de Hartshill built the first stone chapel before he died at the Battle of Evesham in 1265. John de Hartshull began the stone curtain walls in 1330, parts of which still stand. Visitors walk beside the surviving moat on the west and the ruined curtain walls on the east. A low ditch marks the castle’s outer edge, though it is partly filled with dumped earth. Fragments of a tower and the stone chapel can be seen among the ivy. The manor house’s chimney stack and fireplace remain as the last trace of the 16th-century house. From the ridge there are views across the Anker valley towards Atherstone. The site is private but can be viewed from a public footpath beside the remains.