Penrith Castle — Attraction in Penrith

Penrith Castle was built at the end of the 14th century by Ralph Neville, who played a key role in the defence of the Scottish border.

Ralph Neville (about 1364–1425) was granted the manor of Penrith in 1396 and built the castle soon afterwards. As warden of the West March, he was responsible for the defence of this area against the Scots.

Contrary to what might be expected, the castle was not built at the highest point of the hill, which lies 170 metres away. Its location was chosen because it was probably the site of an old Roman fort, the banks and ditches of which could be conveniently re-used for their defensive function.

The castle demonstrated Ralph’s powerful position and his dominance over this area of Cumbria. His son Richard, 5th Earl of Salisbury (1400–60), made it his headquarters, probably building the ‘Red Tower’ and improving the entrance defences.

It has long been thought that Penrith Castle was built by William Strickland, later Bishop of Carlisle, but there is no direct evidence for this. The licences granted to him in 1379 and 1399 to build a fortified tower may have referred instead to Hutton Hall, a 14th-century tower...

I'm torn here... It's not the most thrilling site, but my young daughters thought it was awesome and explored it to the max. They were trying to figure out what areas were what and tried to rebuild the castle in their heads. That was amazing. I took them to Carlisle castle next, so that might have changed their perspective 🙊

This is the remains of the castle at Penrith. A few walls still standing, other areas just stubs of walls and remains. It's still lovely that it sits in the heart of the town and is open to everyone though. Definitely opens the imagination of kids. Mine were especially grumpy that half of the moat had been built over with a road.

Penrith itself is a lovely town and you can spend a few hours here walking around, but probably shouldn't be your end destination. Definitely great for a stop over though.

Shouldn't suggest this probably, but the Morrisons supermarket car park is just 2 minutes walk away and free for 2 hours... Though you should probably pop in and grab something if you do this. We got sandwiches for the...

I'm always fascinated by old buildings especially ruins. I stand in the middle and try to imagine what it would've looked, sounded and smelled like back in time. There's quite a bit of Penrith Castle left to have a look round. It's not huge. It'll take an hour to have a wonder round and read the information boards. What's interesting about Penrith Castle and lots of other buildings in the area are the red stone bricks. Where I live everything is built from Limestone so it was interesting to see. As with most Castle ruins it's part of a small park. There's no entry fee but you'll have to park round the corner and walk to actually get to the park. I can't remember seeing any parking spots directly at the castle grounds. Penrith is a lovely town, to visit and walk round. It's the gateway to the Lake District so it's usually quite busy. There's some great local tea shops, bakeries, restaurants, pubs etc. All in all well worth a visit....