page_title: Lancaster Castle
section_title: Layout
hierarchical_section_title: Lancaster Castle / Layout
caption_attribution_description: Print no. &#34;10672&#34;.; Forms part of: Views of the British Isles, in the Photochrom print collection.; More information about the Photochrom Print Collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.pgz; Title from the Detroit Publishing Co., Catalogue J-foreign section, Detroit, Mich.&#160;: Detroit Publishing Company, 1905.
context_page_description: Lancaster Castle is a medieval castle in Lancaster in the English county of Lancashire. Its early history is unclear, but may have been founded in the 11th century on the site of a Roman fort overlooking a crossing of the River Lune. In 1164, the Honour of Lancaster, including the castle, came under royal control. In 1322 and 1389 the Scots invaded England, progressing as far as Lancaster and damaging the castle. It was not to see military action again until the English Civil War. The castle was first used as a prison in 1196 although this aspect became more important during the English Civil War. The castle buildings are owned by the British sovereign as Duke of Lancaster, which leases part of the structure to Lancashire County Council who operate a Crown Court in part of the building.
  Until 2011, the majority of the buildings were leased to the Ministry of Justice as Her Majesty's Prison Lancaster. The Castle was returned to the Duchy's ownership by the Ministry of Justice in 2011. The Castle is now open to the public seven days a week and is undergoing a large-scale refurbishment to allow access to more areas.
context_section_description: The keep is the oldest part of the castle. It is uncertain when the keep was built, although it probably dates to the 12th century when it was the residence for the lord of the castle—the owner or his representative. In the event of an assault, the keep formed the last line of defence. It is 20 metres (66 feet) high with four storeys; each floor divided into two rooms. The outer wall is 3 metres (9.8 ft) thick; along the exterior are buttresses at each corner and in the middle of each wall. Like most Norman keeps, Lancaster's would have been entered at first floor level. Construction in stone would have been a costly and time-consuming exercise, taking around five years and costing about £1,000. The medieval hall stood south-west of the keep and was dismantled in 1796 during the remodelling of the castle. The late-18th- to early-19th-century Shire Hall next to the keep is a large ten-side room.
  In the south-west corner of the castle is a cylindrical tower named Adrian's Tower from the popular legend that it was built by the Roman Emperor Hadrian. The tower was, however, built in the early 13th century, probably during the reign of King John. Although the exterior was refaced in the 18th century, medieval stonework is visible in the interior.
  The main entrance is through a 20-metre-high (66 ft) gatehouse built at the start of the 15th century. It was instigated by King Henry IV, although legend attributes the work to John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster from 1362 to his death in 1399. Two semi-octagonal towers flank a passageway protected by a portcullis. Battlements project over the gatehouse, and would have allowed defenders to rain missiles on attackers immediately below. Above the gate is a niche which would originally have contained a statue of a saint, flanked by a coat of arms of the kings of England. Because of the legend, a statue of John of Gaunt was placed in the empty niche in the 19th century. Three storeys high, the apartment on the ground floor would probably have been used by the Constable of the castle; the two floors above had three rooms each. After the English Civil War, most of the gatehouse rooms were filled with debtors. The sophistication of the gatehouse prompted John Champness, who wrote Lancaster Castle: A Brief History, to remark "it is perhaps the finest of its date and type in England".
  During the Roman era in the 4th century, the fort was surrounded by the "Wery Wall" which is believed to translate as the 'green wall'. The wall, described as being a 3-metre-thick (9.8 ft) 'indestructible mass' with a defensive ditch, now only remains visible on the east slope of Castle Hill. In his book The Historic Lands of England, Sir Bernard Burke suggests the wall may have been visible in more places 100 years prior to his writing in 1849. However, it is unclear where the wall would have been. The remaining Wery Wall measures 4m × 3m × 3m and consists of only rubble due to the facing stones having been reused elsewhere.
caption: Lancaster's gatehouse in 1905. The castle was used as a prison until March 2011.[45]
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