Carlisle Castle is a stone keep medieval fortress located in the city of Carlisle near the ruins of Hadrian's Wall. First built during the reign of William II in 1092 and rebuilt in stone under Henry I in 1122, the castle is over 930 years old and has been the scene of many episodes in British history.
The Castle played an extremely important part in the wars between England and Scotland (the Wars of Scottish Independence). It has been the centre of many wars and invasions. During the Jacobite Rising of 1745–1746, Carlisle became the last English fortress to undergo a siege. The castle was listed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument on 7 August 1996.
Today the property is managed by English Heritage and is open to the public. Until 2006, the castle was the administrative headquarters of the former King's Own Royal Border Regiment and until 2019 it was the county headquarters to the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment. A museum to the regiment is within the castle walls.
Carlisle Castle was first built during the reign of William II of England (‘William Rufus’), the son of William the Conqueror. At that time, Cumberland (the original name for north and west Cumbria) was still considered a part of Scotland. William II ordered the construction of a Norman-style motte-and-bailey castle in Carlisle on the site of the old Roman fort of Luguvalium, dated by dendrochronology to 72AD, with the castle construction beginning in 1092.
In 1122, Henry I of England ordered a stone castle with towers to be constructed on the site. Thus a keep and city walls were constructed. The existing keep dates from somewhere between 1122 and 1135. The tower keep castle is one of only 104 recorded examples, most being found on the Welsh border. The castle was largely rebuilt by order of David I of Scotland following the Battle of the Standard in 1138. Henry of Anjou was knighted within the castle in 1149. David died of illness there in 1153.
The act of driving out the Scots from Cumberland led to many attempts to retake the lands. The result of this was that Carlisle and its castle would change hands many times for the next 700 years. The first attempt began during the troubled reign of Stephen of England.
On 26 March 1296, John 'The Red' Comyn, since the fourth quarter of 1295 Lord of Annandale, led a Scottish host across the Solway to attack Carlisle. The then governor of the castle, Robert de Brus, deposed Lord of Annandale, successfully withstood the attack, before forcing the raiders to retreat back through Annandale to Sweetheart Abbey. From 22 July to 1 August 1315, Scottish forces laid siege to the Castle. However, the Scottish lacked the resources needed to maintain a siege and withdrew.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Carlisle Castle is a stone keep medieval fortress located in the city of Carlisle near the ruins of Hadrian's Wall. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fort site from the Roman period in Britain.
Carlisle Castle; medieval tower keep castle, two lengths of city wall, a 16th century battery, and part of an earlier Roman fort known as Luguvalium is classified as a Roman fort — a military site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Luguvalium (0.4 km), Milecastle 66 (Stanwix Bank) (0.5 km), Roman and medieval town area bounded by Heads Lane West Wall and Blackfriars Street (0.6 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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This page covers the Roman site at Carlisle Castle; medieval tower keep castle, two lengths of city wall, a 16th century battery, and part of an earlier Roman fort known as Luguvalium. A full Aubrey report for the area pulls together this site alongside scheduled monuments and everything else the record holds within a few miles:
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Research the area around Carlisle Castle; medieval tower keep castle, two lengths of city wall, a 16th century battery, and part of an earlier Roman fort known as Luguvalium