Conisbrough Castle

The remains of Conisbrough Castle stand within the guardianship of English Heritage. The core of the castle is a keep dating back to around 1180, with curtain walls constructed shortly afterward. Later medieval additions and alterations have also been made. The castle was originally built for Hamelin Plantagenet, the 5th Earl of Waren and illegitimate half-brother to Henry II.

The keep is constructed from ashlar magnesian limestone, while the curtain walls are of coursed rubble. The cylindrical keep rises approximately 27 metres in height and features a strongly splayed base and six prominent semi-hexagonal buttresses, contained within a D-shaped enclosure. The enclosure incorporates the remains of a gatehouse and barbican to the south. The entrance to the keep, on the south side, is accessed by 20th-century concrete steps and has a joggled lintel and relieving arch. A twin window above also features a joggled lintel and relieving arch. Quatrefoil chapel windows in a buttress to the right have pelleted surrounds; a round-arched upper-floor window is positioned beyond a buttress to the left.

Inside, the keep is cylindrical, with a vaulted basement containing a central aperture over a well. The lower storey is plain, with stone stairs built into the walls. The principal chamber on the first floor has a large fireplace with clustered columns, a joggled lintel and canopy, and a square-headed basin recess to the right. Opposite the fireplace is a deep window recess incorporating stone benches. The second floor is similar but smaller, featuring a fireplace with a trefoil-headed basin recess to its right. A chapel, with a vestry built into the wall and a buttress, is located opposite the fireplace. The hexagonal chapel has rib-vaulting on pilasters and engaged columns (of which only one remains), two trefoil-headed piscinas, a round-arched east window with roll moulding and chevrons to the hood, and quatrefoil side windows. The vault has a transverse rib with chevrons and crossed ribs rising to bosses. A staircase leads to the roof, where the tops of the buttresses have been adapted for use as a dovecote, oven, and water tanks.

The curtain wall has a splayed base with rubble laid to course heights, aligned with quoins where direction changes. Cylindrical tower projections of solid masonry are incorporated into the wall, and two sections have been refaced in ashlar. The 13th-century barbican walls flank the approach to the former gatehouse, which, along with a section of wall tying east, has slid downslope. Foundations of various buildings are visible against the north, east, and south walls of the inner bailey.

The keep shares similarities with that at Mortemer, near Dieppe in France, also owned by the Warren family. The curtain walls, with their solid cylindrical towers, represent a transitional stage in defensive architecture, moving from solid rectangular forms to hollow turrets. The castle was visited by King John in 1201 and later popularized by Sir Walter Scott's novel 'Ivanhoe.' It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Further details and illustrations can be found in S. Johnson’s ‘Conisbrough Castle’, a Department of the Environment handbook published by HMSO in 1984.