The Castle Keep

The Castle Keep is a Grade I listed building, a tower keep of exceptional importance that stands on Castle Hill in Guildford. It represents the remains of a fortress first documented in written record in 1173, though it likely occupied a site previously defended by an earlier wooden keep and shell keep.

The keep was built in the mid 12th century and subsequently altered through several phases: partly rebuilt after a fire in the 13th century, converted to a house for Francis Carter in the early 17th century, and further altered and restored in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The structure is constructed of Bargate rubblestone with some chalk and flint, with ashlar quoins at the angles and on buttresses. Decorative bands of stone are laid in herringbone pattern. The keep is square in plan, measuring 14 metres on each side and standing 19 metres high, comprising three storeys topped by battlemented parapets. The walls are supported by angle pier buttresses and a centre pier buttress on each side, with plinths that bat outwards. The original entrance was at first floor level; the ground floor was used for storage and illuminated by slit windows.

The south face features brick-dressed, mullioned 3-light window at first floor level to the left of the centre buttress, with chamfered surround. Above this stands a round-arched opening to the right of the buttress in a deep surround, with a corbelled garde-robe inserted in the early 17th century above. A two-light round-arched opening occupies the upper floor positioned on top of the central buttress.

The east face displays two round-arched two-light openings in the central buttress at first and upper floor levels, with stone blocks below the lower window forming buttress. The north face has irregular slit fenestration in the lower stages, a two-light round-arched opening in the upper stage to the left of centre, and a round-arched ashlar-dressed opening to the right of centre in the middle stage.

The west face, the entrance front of the keep, has a central pier buttress now largely destroyed. A two-light round-arched opening occupies the upper stage, marking the original first floor entrance where a tall narrow passage led to the hall, now blocked. A new entrance on the ground floor has been created.

Internally, offsets in the walls mark where original floors were positioned. The first floor hall features a fireplace on one wall with deep window embrasures. Small chambers have been constructed in the western and southern walls. The chamber in the south west corner was probably a chapel, fitted with a barrel-vaulted roof and blind arcading on one wall comprising attached pilaster piers under Norman leaf-carved capitals. The chalk walls are covered with medieval graffitti. Internal floors and roof are now gone.

Historically, the keep was in use as a prison by the end of the 12th century. The apartments built to the south west became a popular royal residence in the 13th century. Henry III transformed Guildford Castle into one of the most luxurious palaces in England and organised the rebuilding following the fire. The exterior was originally whitewashed and the interiors were painted by William Florentyn, who possibly also worked at St. Marys Church in Quarry Street; the main hall was marbled and the ceiling painted green and gold.

The keep forms part of a scheduled Ancient Monument, Surrey Monument No. I.