Snodhill Castle

Snodhill Castle comprises the upstanding remains of a significant medieval fortification. The principal structure is a polygonal tower built in the mid-to-late 12th century, possibly with earlier wing walls and the west end of a cross wall. Later medieval additions include a mid-to-late 14th-century drum tower, curtain walls, a south-east tower, and a north tower. The castle has undergone repairs in the 20th and 21st centuries.

The main polygonal tower is built of flat-bedded coursed stones with chamfered outer faces, featuring a rubble stone core and ashlar dressings. Squared stone quoins mark the changes in angle of the walling. Originally two storeys tall, the tower's ground floor was roughly symmetrical with a 12-sided plan and battered plinth, while the taller first floor had an irregular 10-sided plan.

Significant sections of the polygonal tower's masonry survive on the western and southern sides, with more fragmentary remains to the east and north. The lower sections on the south, east, and north sides relate to a battered 12-sided plinth that rose the full height of the ground floor. The south-east corner of the ground floor contains a deeply splayed window with a square head and lintel, apparently original to the structure. The north wall shows evidence of a fireplace. The irregular 10-sided first-floor walls survive only on the south and west sides. The eastern jamb of the large south window remains in situ, and toward the western end of the upper floor, a full-height cross wall projects northwards from the surviving south wall section, indicating a large first-floor room with a smaller ante-room at the west end positioned above the entrance passageway.

The original entrance to the tower was at the west end, where one bay of the ground floor formed an entrance passage running through the thickness of the plinth. The quoins and remaining door jamb reflect later adaptations. In the 14th century, the west entrance was modified with the addition of two drum towers. The north drum tower no longer stands. The south drum tower is built against the earlier wall, and its north face preserves a surviving fragment of springing for a two-centred arched entrance head, with a groove to the east of the opening for a portcullis.

Wing walls survive as remains of rubble stone on the north and south sides of the motte. The southern wing wall is more substantial, standing approximately 3.5 metres tall toward the base of the motte.

The south curtain wall was built in three phases. The earliest central section, probably dating to the late 11th or early 12th century, forms the south end of the cross wall that created a small defensive enclosure with the wing walls. This section is approximately 5.5 metres long with stone quoins at its west end. The western section is of coursed rubble stone, rising to approximately 4 metres tall. The eastern section comprises fine ashlar blocks and continues eastward to form the base of the south-east tower, which projects from the curtain wall and returns to join the south wing wall. Within the tower remains is a recess that may have functioned as a cupboard, and a pyramid stop marks the base of the chamfered edge of the south-east window opening. A small fragment of curtain wall, approximately 5.3 metres long and of core rubble stone, survives in the north-west corner of the upper bailey.

The north tower, positioned approximately mid-way along the north side of the bailey, survives to considerable height and is constructed of squared stone blocks.