Carlisle Castle

In the civil parish of Carlisle. In the historic county of Cumberland (Modern Authority of Cumbria, 1974 county of Cumbria).

The upstanding and buried remains of Carlisle medieval tower keep castle. The castle was founded by William Rufus in 1092, with much building work during C12. The Keep was probably built between 1136 and 1153. The main gate was rebuilt circa 1380, the tile Tower built in 1483 and the inner gatehouse built in the mid C14. Constantly used, attacked numerous times and changed hands between England and Scotland on several occassions. C12 square keep altered to take cannon on roof but remains imposing. Although much repair and altered basical intact castle.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law. This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 386571; 386583; 386586)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is NY39695622

Air Photo from Air Photo and general mapping	1st edition OS Map from Mid to late 19th century maps
Modern Map from Landscape form and features	Modern Map from General location and route planning

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 10679; 1087898; 1087803; 1087948; 1087667; 1087917
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 5636 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website.

• Web site links
  • http://www.visitcumbria.com/car/carlcas.htm
    http://www.theheritagetrail.co.uk/castles/carlisle%20castle.htm
    http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_north/85/carlislecastle.htm
    http://museums.ncl.ac.uk/wallnet/bird/t-bastle.htm
    http://www.touruk.co.uk/castles/castle_carlisle.htm
    http://www.castlexplorer.co.uk/england/carlisle/carlisle.php#castle
    http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/conProperty.143
    http://www.stevebulman.f9.co.uk/cumbria/carlislecastle.html
    http://www.ecastles.co.uk/carlisle.html
    http://www.matthewpemmott.co.uk/2008/05/carlisle-castle-carlisle.html
• Books
  • Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (CWAAS)
    Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern) p30-6
    Emery, Anthony, 1996, Greater Medieval Houses Vol1 (Cambridge) p199
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p36-9 [plan]
    Cope, Jean, 1991, Castles in Cumbria (Cicerone Press) p64-7
    McCarthy, M.R., Summerson, H.R.T. and Annis, R.G., 1990, Carlisle Castle: a survey and documentary history (English Heritage Archaeological reports No 18)
    Jackson, M.J.,1990, Castles of Cumbria (Carel Press) p38-39,41
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p83
    Colvin, H.M., Ransome, D.R. and Summerson, John, 1982, The history of the King's Works, Vol4: 1485-1660 (part 2) (London) p664-73
    Clare, T., 1981, Archaeological Sites of the Lake District p52-7
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p202-3
    Gilyard-Beer, R., 1977, ‘De Ireby’s Tower in Carlisle Castle' in Gilyard-Beer, R. et al (eds), Ancient Monuments and Their Interpretation: Essays Presented to A J Taylor (Phillimore) p191-210 [on outer gatehouse]
    Hugill, Robert, 1977, Castles and Peles of Cumberland and Westmorland (Newcastle; Frank Graham) p55-60
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker) p132-4
    Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1967, Buildings of England: Cumberland and Westmorland (Harmondsworth) p98-99
    Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p595-600
    Hugill, R.,1939, Borderland Castles and Peles [1970 Reprint by Frank Graham] p59-63
    Curwen, J.F., 1913, Castles and Fortified Towers of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands (Kendal) p95-110
    Armitage, Ella, 1912, The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles (London: John Murray) p123
    Evans, Herbert A., 1912, Castles of England and Wales (London) p130-41
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol2 p297-302
    Clark, G.T., 1884, Medieval Military Architecture in England  (Wyman and Sons) Vol1 p350-8 [reprint of 1874 article]
    Timbs, J. and Gunn, A., 1872, Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales Vol3 (London) p311-3
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p207
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1853, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol2 p212
    1847, History, Gazetteer and Directory of Cumberland (Mannix and Whellan)
    Jefferson, 1838, History of Carlisle (Carlisle) esp p91-121
    Lysons, D. and S., 1816, Magna Britannia Vol4 Cumberland p. cciii, 68-9 [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/source.asp?pubid=404]
    Buck, Samuel and Nathenial, 1774, Buck’s Antiquities (London) Vol1 p37
    Grose, F., 1756, Antiquities of England and Wales Vol1 p42-5 http://books.google.com/books?id=D01LAAAAMAAJ
• Journal Articles
  • Cook, W., 2007, 'A list of the garrison at Carlisle Castle 1383' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society [ser3] Vol3 p226-7
    1990 Feb, Fortress Vol4 p27-39
    Thompson, M.W., 1986, 'Associated monasteries and castles in the Middle Ages: a tentative list' Archaeological Journal Vol143 p312
    King, D.J.C. and Alcock, L., 1969, 'Ringworks in England and Wales' Château Gaillard Vol3 p90-127
    Brown, R. Allen, 1955, 'Royal Castle-building in England 1154-1216' English Historical Review Vol70 [Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press)] pp19-64
    Kirby, 1954, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol54 p131-9 [history]
    Martindale, 1919, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol19 p165-7
    Martindale, 1918, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol18 p235-7
    Martindale, 1914, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol14 p292-4
    Ferguson, 1874-5, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol2 p56-95
    Clark, 1874, The Builder Vol32 p169-71
    1859, Gentleman's Magazine Vol7 pt2 p247-50 http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015030569233
• Guidebooks
  • 1999, Carlisle Castle (London: English Heritage)
    Platt, Colin and McCarthy, Mike, 1992, Carlisle Castle (London: English Heritage)
    Charlton, J., 1985, Carlisle Castle, Cumbria (London: English Heritage)
    Watson, G.P.H (description), Bradley, Geoffrey (history), 1937, Carlisle Castle, Cumberland (HMSO)
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • The Anglo-saxon Chronicle; Laud Chronicle AD1092 http://omacl.org/Anglo/ [Text based on Everyman Press edn of 1912]
    Rickard, John, 2002, The Castle Community. The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 (Boydell Press) [lists sources for 1272-1422] p147-52
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • Speed, John, 1611-12, The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain [http://faculty.oxy.edu/horowitz/home/johnspeed/Cities7.htm]
    William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/cumbeng.html#cumb21]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p94
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol5 p52 http://www.archive.org/details/itineraryofjohnl05lelauoft