Donnington Castle

The manor of Donnington had been owned by the Abberbury family since 1292, Donnington Castle was built by its original owner, Sir Richard Abberbury the Elder, under a licence granted by Richard II in 1386. The surviving castle gatehouse dates from this time. In 1398, the castle was sold to Thomas Chaucer, son of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, as a residence for his daughter Alice, who later became Duchess of Suffolk. The Duke of Suffolk William De La Pole made Donnington his occasional residence, and considerably enlarged the buildings. This family later fell out with the Tudor monarchs, and the castle became a royal property. King Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Queen Elizabeth I visited Donnington…

Donnington Castle was originally built in a roughly rectangular form, though the west facade projected outwards irregularly. Measured from the inner sides of the curtain walls, the courtyard measured 67 ft north to south and 108 ft east to west. During the Civil War star-shaped defences were built around the castle to facilitate gun emplacements. Only the gatehouse, crested by battlements, survived the castle's destruction in 1646; standing three storeys high, it measures 17.5 by internally. Modern walls standing 0.5 m high outline the original layout of the demolished castle. The star-shaped earthworks added during the Civil War are still visible, surviving to a height of 1.7 m.