Lydford Castle

Lydford Castle stands on the edge of the village of Lydford in Devon. It began as a small Norman ringwork built into the corner of an older Anglo-Saxon fortified town called a burh. The first castle was only about fifty-five metres by sixty metres and held grain stores behind its earth and timber walls. By the middle of the 12th century the Normans had abandoned the site and the town itself was in decline. The second castle was built in 1195 after a wave of lawlessness across England. It was a stone tower with a rectangular bailey protected by deep ditches and ramparts. The tower measured about sixteen metres square and had walls up to three and a half metres thick, with arrow slits and an internal water supply. Historians recognise it as one of the earliest purpose-built prisons in the country. Today the castle is a ruin managed by English Heritage. Visitors can walk around the remains of the tower and the surrounding earthworks. The site overlooks the valley of the Lyd and the village church stands nearby. The earthworks of the original Norman fort are looked after by the National Trust and open to the public.