Quadrangular castle

Bolton Castle, in England.

A quadrangular castle or courtyard castle is a type of castle characterised by ranges of buildings which are integral with the curtain walls, enclosing a central ward or quadrangle, and typically with angle towers. There is no keep and frequently no distinct gatehouse. The quadrangular form predominantly dates from the mid to late fourteenth century and signals the transition from defensively to domestically oriented great houses. The four walls are also known as ranges.

Quadrangular castles typically display a sophisticated and complex approach to the planning of internal social spaces.^[1][2] There are many quadrangular castles around Britain, for example: Bodiam Castle in East Sussex, and Bolton Castle.

The 27 quadrangular castles identified by John Rickard as being built in England consist roughly 10% of the castles built in the country between 1272 and 1422. No castles of this design were built in Wales.^[3]

One of the earliest quadrangular castles in Germany is Neuleiningen, of which substantial ruins remain.

List of quadrangular castles

Manually update list | Find images

This list is generated from data in Wikidata and is periodically updated by a bot.
Edits made within the list area will be removed on the next update!

County Durham

Article	Place	inception	coordinate location	image
Lumley Castle	County Durham	1389	54°51′17″N 1°33′11″W / 54.8547°N 1.55293°W
Raby Castle	County Durham	1378	54°35′27″N 1°48′07″W / 54.590833333333°N 1.8019444444444°W

South Oxfordshire

Article	Place	inception	coordinate location	image
Greys Court	South Oxfordshire	1348	51°32′42″N 0°57′22″W / 51.545°N 0.956164°W
Shirburn Castle	South Oxfordshire	1338	51°39′27″N 0°59′38″W / 51.6576°N 0.9938°W

West Dorset

Article	Place	inception	coordinate location	image
Chideock Castle	West Dorset	1375s	50°44′03″N 2°49′06″W / 50.7343°N 2.81825°W
Woodsford Castle	West Dorset	1336	50°42′45″N 2°20′38″W / 50.7126°N 2.34389°W

Misc

Article	Place	inception	coordinate location	image
Bodiam Castle	East Sussex	1385	51°00′08″N 0°32′37″E / 51.0023°N 0.54351944444444°E
Bolton Castle	Richmondshire	1379	54°19′20″N 1°57′00″W / 54.3221°N 1.94991°W
Caverswall Castle	Staffordshire Moorlands	1275	52°58′57″N 2°04′29″W / 52.9826°N 2.0746°W
Cawood Castle	Selby	1378	53°49′53″N 1°07′40″W / 53.8313°N 1.1278°W
Chillingham Castle	Chillingham, Northumberland	1344	55°31′34″N 1°54′18″W / 55.526°N 1.905°W
Cooling Castle	Medway		51°27′19″N 0°31′23″E / 51.4554°N 0.523084°E
Danby Castle		1400	54°27′20″N 0°53′43″W / 54.4555°N 0.895197°W
Farleigh Hungerford Castle	Mendip	1383	51°19′03″N 2°17′13″W / 51.3174°N 2.2869°W
Ford Castle		1338	55°37′53″N 2°05′25″W / 55.6314°N 2.09025°W
Greystoke Castle	Eden	1353	54°40′12″N 2°52′39″W / 54.67°N 2.87757°W
Hartley Castle		1353	54°28′09″N 2°20′12″W / 54.4691°N 2.33655°W
Hemyock Castle	Mid Devon	1380	50°54′45″N 3°13′54″W / 50.9125°N 3.23156°W
Hever Castle	Hever	1271	51°11′13″N 0°06′50″E / 51.186944°N 0.113889°E
Maxstoke Castle		1345	52°29′58″N 1°40′18″W / 52.4994°N 1.67167°W
Moor End Castle	Northamptonshire	1347	52°05′42″N 0°54′01″W / 52.0949°N 0.900155°W
Ravensworth Castle		1350s	54°55′34″N 1°38′18″W / 54.9262°N 1.6384°W
Sheriff Hutton Castle	North Yorkshire Ryedale	1382	54°05′17″N 1°00′19″W / 54.0881°N 1.00519°W 54°05′11″N 1°00′23″W / 54.0864°N 1.00643°W
Somerton Castle	North Kesteven	1281	53°07′03″N 0°34′34″W / 53.1174°N 0.57616°W 53°07′03″N 0°34′32″W / 53.1175°N 0.57558°W
Starborough Castle		1341	51°10′42″N 0°02′19″E / 51.1783°N 0.0386396°E
Westenhanger Castle		1343	51°05′42″N 1°01′50″E / 51.0951°N 1.03053°E
Wingfield Castle	Mid Suffolk	1384	52°20′52″N 1°15′41″E / 52.3479°N 1.2614°E
Woodcroft Castle		1280	52°37′35″N 0°19′02″W / 52.6263°N 0.3172°W
Wressle Castle	East Riding of Yorkshire	1390s	53°46′33″N 0°55′44″W / 53.7757°N 0.928979°W 53°46′32″N 0°55′45″W / 53.7755°N 0.929291°W

End of auto-generated list.

References

1. Faulkner, P (1958). "Domestic planning from the 12th to the 14th centuries". Archaeological Journal 115: 150–83.
2. Faulkner, P (1963). "Castle planning in the fourteenth century". Archaeological Journal 120: 215–35.
3. Rickard, John (2002). The castle community: the personnel of English and Welsh castles : 1272 - 1422 (1. publ. ed.). Woodbridge: Boydell. p. 21. ISBN 9780851159133.