Dudley Castle

Dudley Castle is a ruined fortification in the town of Dudley, West Midlands, England. Originally, a wooden motte and bailey castle built soon after the Norman Conquest, it was rebuilt as a stone fortification during the twelfth century but subsequently demolished on the orders of Henry II of England. The rebuilding of the castle took place in the second half of the thirteenth century. It culminated in the construction of a range of buildings within the fortifications by John Dudley. The fortifications were slighted by order of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War and the residential buildings were destroyed by fire in 1750. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the site was used for fêtes and pageants. Today, Dudley Zoo is located on its grounds. Its location, Castle Hill, is an outcrop of Wenlock Group limestone that was extensively quarried during the Industrial Revolution and which now, along with Wren's Nest Hill, is a scheduled monument of the best-surviving remains of the limestone industry in Dudley. It is also a Grade I listed building. Localised structural problems led to it being placed on Historic England's Heritage at Risk register in 2020. The Dudley Tunnel runs beneath Castle Hill, but not the castle itself.