Carlisle Castle
The Most Besieged Place in England

Carlisle Castle has defended Carlisle in Cumbria for centuries. As a border town between England and Scotland, Carlisle was a strategic stronghold and has been fought over for hundreds of years and switched from English to Scottish hands and back a again almost too many times to count. Carlisle Castle isn’t a romantic ruin.  It's a fortress that has been in continuous use for almost 900 years, and its current structure reflects the modifications needed to cope with military advances over the centuries. Parts of the castle are out of bounds as they are still used as a storage facility by the army.

William Rufus, son of William the Conqueror, built the original Norman wooden motte and bailey castle in the late eleventh century on the site of a former Roman fort on Hadrian’s Wall. It was during the reign of King Henry I that a stone castle was constructed to replace the earlier Norman structure. Building of the medieval castle started around 1122, and shortly after, a stone city wall was also erected to defend Carlisle.

Carlisle Castle History

King John of England continued to improve Carlisle Castle and used it as a base from which he and his followers oppressed the north of England. King John’s behaviour caused bitterness and outright revolt, and saw the English barons form an alliance with King Alexander II of Scotland. In 1216, the people of Carlisle opened the town to the Scots. Their army attacked and captured the castle, holding it until shortly after King John's death in October for 1216.

In the Treaty of York - signed in 1237 - the Scots agreed to give up their fight for the northern counties of England. This led to a peaceful period for most of the remaining thirteenth century.

Fighting continued through the fourteenth century. Weaponry developed and by the 1380’s a small number of brass guns had been put in place at the castle. By the 1430’s the brass weapons had been replaced with six stronger iron cannons.

Defending the northern counties were the March wardens or Lords of the North. England's kings paid the March wardens handsome salaries and the wardens raised their own armies to protect northern England. Famous English families, such as the Percys and Nevilles, held positions as March wardens.

With a power base and a private army, the March wardens could bring danger to a king. It's not surprising, that many kings invested men they could trust as Lord of the North. King Edward IV chose his brother Richard, the Duke of Gloucester (later King Richard III). Later, King Henry VII chose a local baron for the role, and the Dacre family held this position for many years.

By 1603 the amalgamation of the English and Scottish crowns resulted in peaceful times in the border lands. Queen Mary’s son was now King James I of England. In 1617, King James I lodged at Carlisle Castle, found that it needed work, but did nothing to renovate it since the castle now saw little use. By 1633, even the guns had been removed. There really was very little need for Carlisle Castle. That is until the Civil War.

King Charles I's rule was not a happy one. Between his strong Catholic faith and his belief in the the Divine Right of Kings, he made himself thoroughly unpopular - until war broke out and the king's forces met the Parliamentarians in battle.

The city of Carlisle survived the winter siege. In the spring of 1645, English Parliamentarians came to support the besiegers. Life in the besieged city was hard. All metal was seized from the people to stamp coins to pay the Royalist soldiers. Food was dreadfully short - to the point where horses, dogs and rats served as food. Yet Carlisle held fast until the 25th June when, three weeks after the Royalists lost the Battle of Naseby, Carlisle lost any hope of support.

The damage caused during the siege was repaired using stone from the nave of Carlisle Cathedral and Carlisle Castle was garrisoned by a neutral army.

The remainder of the seventeenth century was again peaceful around Carlisle. The castle guns were only used to celebrate royal birthdays or the arrival of important visitors and by the end of the century the army garrison had left.

During the peaceful interval the castle was looked after by a few veterans who lived in the city. On a number of occasions the castle was used to house prisoners.

It was a hundred years later when Carlisle Castle saw action again and this time it was a Jacobite rebellion led by Charles Edward Stewart (Bonnie Prince Charlie). The city had drummed up a militia of around 1250 men who, on the 9th November, faced around 5000 Scots. The city, and eventually, the army surrendered as they believed they had no chance against the savage Scots and on the 17th November Charles Edward Stewart entered the city preceded by 100 pipers. The majority of Scots left Carlisle to return to their homeland, leaving a garrison of 400 men to defend Carlisle.

By the end of the eighteenth century the castle was quiet and used mainly as a military store.

In the early nineteenth century, the threat of rebellious townsfolk gaining access to Carlisle Castle and the weapons stored within led to the return of a permanent military presence. So from around 1820 old buildings were modified and the castle converted to a barracks. The re-design included levelling the parade ground and filling in the half moon battery. By 1840 the barracks housed 250 people.

As the threat lessened towards the end of the century the castle was used as a training base for new recruits, and became the home of the Border Regiment until 1st October 1959. The castle played its part during the two World Wars, mainly as a storage depot and training centre. In the Second World War an anti-aircraft gun was mounted on the Keep roof.

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Carlisle Castle Tour

You enter Carlisle Castle through the red sandstone-built outer gatehouse. It’s an impressive view as you walk up to it. The oldest parts of this structure are from around 1160, although it was heavily modified in the late fourteenth century. Initially it was the first of the castles defences, but had a number of different uses through the ages including being the sheriff of Cumberland’s office and exchequer, a barracks, and a sergeant’s mess. These varied uses have resulted in many modifications over the years.

From the outer gatehouse you enter the outer ward. As a medieval castle, this area would have had a barns and workshops, as well as grazing space for cattle. It’s amazing to think that this vast area has been raised a few feet in height and the ground levelled for use as a parade ground. This was done around 1820. The stone buildings are from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries when the castle was a barracks and storage depot. The buildings are named after some of the battles in which the Border Regiment saw action. Some of these buildings are still in use and cannot be visited. One building that is well worth visiting is the Alma building which contains the Cumbria Museum of Military Life.

The Tudor half-moon battery is a strange structure as it appears to be of no use as you cannot see anything out of it but the ditch in front of it. That is because the outer ward area was raised, and in fact covered the battery. Inside the battery is quite tight and it’s difficult to imagine thirteen men firing their guns from here. The smoke from the gun powder would have passed through a number of vents in the roof. With the noise, smoke, and the fear of being shot at, it couldn’t have been a pleasant place to fight in battle.

The Captains Tower or inner gatehouse stands immediately behind the half-moon battery. This part of the castle dates from the late twelve century when the inner ward was created. As most parts of the castle, it has been modified over the years.

It’s probably best to go up to the inner ward walkway first to get views of Carlisle and the surrounding countryside and a better overview of the inner ward buildings. The walkway completes a circuit of the inner ward and over the years has been widened and strengthened so that heavy cannons could be used.

Back at ground level in the inner ward, you’ll find the powder magazine from around 1827 that was designed to store up to 320 barrels of gunpowder. The next building along is the old militia store from 1881, from which uniforms and supplies were provided to soldiers. It now houses an exhibition on the history of Carlisle Castle. These two buildings are believed to stand on the site of a possible palace that was built for King Edward I. The only medieval remains of this palace are the shell of the great chamber. Although this building has been modified there are still some nice architectural features that demonstrate the early importance of the rooms within the chamber.

Beside, and connected to the great chamber, used to stand a tower. The tower was demolished in 1835 as its structure had become unsafe after centuries of neglect and its final use as a barracks. It was in this tower that Queen Mary of Scots was imprisoned. 

It is the keep, or great tower that is the most imposing structure within the castle. Its height was lowered in Tudor times to give the tower the strength to tolerate cannons being fired from the roof. Even so, it still stands at an impressive 21 metres tall. It is believed that before the palace was constructed by Edward I, that the Kings of England and Scotland would have entertained their guests in rooms within this tower.

In a small corridor on the second floor of the keep are a collection of wonderful carvings and graffiti. Called The Prisoners’ Carvings, although there is no history of prisoners being kept in these rooms, these beautiful medieval carvings were skilfully produced. The style of dress and armour displayed in some of the carvings would suggest they date from the late fifteenth century.

It is in the keep's groundfloor store rooms that you learn more of the horrors of Carlisle Castle. The vaulted rooms were designed for storage of food and drink, but sometimes they were used as dungeons. It is said that some prisoners were so tightly packed into one room and so poorly fed and watered that they licked the stone walls to get moisture. The resulting stones have unusual curved shapes and are called the “Licking Stones”.

Unfortunately, there is no evidence of the Roman Hadrian’s Wall around the castle site. We recommend visiting the nearby Roman fort and wall remains to gain experience of the defences used over the last 2000 years to protect the borderland between England and Scotland.

Carlisle Castle is run by English Heritage. If you would like to know more about opening times and events please visit their website.

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Holiday Cottages Around Carlisle

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If you have enjoyed reading about Carlisle Castle and would like to explore the city of Carlisle and its cathedral or other areas of England, then please use the links.

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