Beeston Castle

• 1220s: Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester, builds and occupies the castle.
• 1232: John le Scot, Ranulph’s nephew, took over ownership of the castle. 
• 1237: Henry III gains control of the castle after John le Scot’s death. He kept the castle in good repair, carrying out numerous renovations. He also used the castle as a prison for Welsh captives.1254: Prince Edward, son of Henry III, takes ownership of the castle. Shortly after, the Montfortian rebellion occurred and Simon de Monfort’s supporters took over.
• 1256: James de Audley and Urian de Saint Pierre take the castle from Montfort.
• 1265: Edward took over the castle, keeping it in good shape, and carrying out many repairs to the site.
• 1399: Richard II stayed at Beeston Castle on his way to Chester.

• 1602: The castle was sold to Sir Hugh Beeston, where it received its current name.

• 1643: Sir William Brereton led Parliamentarian forces to the castle, where it was seized. However, it wasn’t long before Royalist Captain Thomas Sandford and eight of his men forced Brereton to surrender.

• 1840: John Tollemanche purchased Beeston Castle. Here, he held various fairs to raise funds for the poor.

General Layout

Beeston Castle is a mediaeval enclosure castle, built without a keep. Instead, the castle’s primary defences were the easily-defendable landscape, thick curtain walls, and strong gatehouses. The castle also boasts numerous towers, all designed with defence in mind.

Original Layout

Built atop an ancient Iron Age site (and, later, the site of a Bronze Age community), Beeston Castle includes an outer and inner ward, outer and inner curtain walls, and outer and inner gatehouses. The gatehouses and towers along the curtain wall were used as residences, as a traditional keep was never constructed.

Outer Ward

Visitors approaching Beeston Castle were greeted by a massive, commanding sandstone structure atop a rocky cliff. Guests would first see the outer gatehouse with its massive twin towers. For added protection, the gatehouse boasted a 6 metre (19.7 ft) thick curtain wall that supported eight additional towers.

The outer area was rectangular in shape, and its D-shaped towers were backless, giving an advantage over attackers who infiltrated the outer ward.

Inner Ward

During the mediaeval period, the inner ward was accessed via a causeway. From the causeway, visitors could walk over the deep ditch along a wooden bridge (held up by a tall stone pillar) to enter the castle. This ditch was used as a quarry to gather materials for the castle’s construction.

There is an inner curtain wall inside of the inner ward, with six beams projecting out of the side. This wooden structure formed a gallery where the garrison could drop objects on potential invaders who attempted to infiltrate the castle from the ditch.

The inner ward never had domestic buildings or any other major buildings like other English castles. However, there were two wells on site to access freshwater for the inhabitants. One of the two wells at Beeston Castle is among the deepest in Britain. 

Inner Gatehouse

Based on historic surveys and architecture, historians believe Beeston Castle’s inner gatehouse was the first building erected during the construction of the castle. This gatehouse remained the most important part of the fortress. It boasted two towers standing adjacent to the passageway into the castle, and its ground-level rooms offered comfortable accommodation for the castellan.

Modern Layout

The modern ticket office is designed to represent a mediaeval gatehouse, though it was built in the Victorian-era by John Tollemanche.

Some of the outer curtain wall is still intact, while other parts lay in ruin. Many of the towers that stood on these walls have also decayed over time, leaving only minor signs of a foundation. A few of the towers are somewhat well-preserved, but nowhere near their original state.

The outer gatehouse was partially destroyed during the 18th century when rock quarrying resumed on the rocky cliff. Its remains are much shorter than they initially stood, though visitors can still see the rounded towers.

The causeway that once led to the inner bailey has been reduced to broken stone bricks and blocks. Visitors can see the rubble beneath the modern bridge, which was built in the 1970s.