 The Grade I listed Christchurch Castle is of Norman origin and was originally of a motte and bailey construction. The castle once dominated the town but now lies in ruins and only a couple of the keep walls remain. A castle has stood in Christchurch since approximately 924 AD when Edward the Elder fortified the town with a wooden fort on a motte. After the Norman conquest in 1066 the castle's defences were strengthened with a ditch and bailey surrounded by a wooden palisade. The wooden fort was replaced; at first with another wooden structure and then a stone keep which was constructed in the 12th century. Within the curtain wall of the castle stands the Constable's House, a Grade I listed Norman dwelling. Much of the building's stonework remains, including a rare example of a Norman chimney (one of only five in the country) and the privy which extends out across the mill stream. The castle was slighted by the Parliamentary army during the English Civil War to prevent the stronghold from falling into Royalist hands.
