Worcester Castle Worcester Castle was a Norman fortification built between 1068 and 1069 in Worcester , England by Urse d ' Abetot on behalf of William the Conqueror . The castle had a motte - and - bailey design and was located on the south side of the old Anglo - Saxon city , cutting into the grounds of Worcester Cathedral . Royal castles were owned by the king and maintained on his behalf by an appointed constable . At Worcester that role was passed down through the local Beauchamp family on a hereditary basis , giving them permanent control of the castle and considerable power within the city . The castle played an important part in the wars of the 12th and early 13th century , including the Anarchy and the First Barons ' War . In 1217 , Henry III ' s government decided to break the power of the Beauchamps and reduce the ongoing military threat posed by the castle by returning much of the castle ' s bailey to the cathedral . Without an intact bailey the castle was no longer valuable militarily , although it played a small part in the Second Barons ' War in the 1260s . A gaol had been built in the castle by the early 13th century and the castle continued to be used as Worcestershire ' s county gaol until the 19th century , when a new prison was built on the north side of Worcester and the old site completely redeveloped . Today nothing remains of Worcester Castle with the exception of Edgar ' s Tower , a cathedral gatehouse built on the former entrance to the castle . History . 11th century . Worcester Castle was built after the Norman conquest of England in the Anglo - Saxon city of Worcester . The castle was constructed between 1068 and 1069 on the orders of William the Conqueror as part of a wave of royal castle building in major Roman or Anglo - Saxon towns across England . Constructed in timber , the castle had a motte - and - bailey design , with a bailey to the north and south of the motte . The top of the motte was later recorded as being around 18 feet ( 5 . 5 m ) in diameter . The castle was defensively well situated on the eastern bank of the River Severn in the south - west corner of the borough , taking advantage of the old " burh " walls and ditches . Urse d ' Abetot was appointed as the sheriff of Worcester and the constable of the new castle . Worcester was an urban castle , built within an existing settlement . Many such castles required the clearance of local properties , but unusually at Worcester Castle the ditch of the outer bailey cut through part of Worcester Cathedral ' s cemetery . It is unclear whether the cemetery was still in use at that time , but the desecration resulted in Ealdred , the Archbishop of York , with extensive interests in Worcester , complaining about the seizure of the land and formally cursing Urse . 12th – 13th centuries . Worcester remained a royal castle , but within a few years the post of sheriff and that of constable became hereditary in the Beauchamp family , the successors to Urse d ' Abitot . Urse ' s son , Roger , inherited them , followed by Walter de Beauchamp , who married Urse ' s daughter , and William de Beauchamp . The castle was effectively run by the Beauchamps , largely independent of the king . Despite controlling Worcester , the Beauchamps preferred to use Elmley Castle , 12 miles ( 20 k ) away , as their main residence . In 1113 Worcester was attacked by Welsh raiders , who broke into the outer bailey of the castle and set fire to the buildings there ; the timber castle was destroyed and had to be rebuilt , again in wood . In the late 1130s a period of civil war – the Anarchy – broke out in England , in which the rival factions of King Stephen and the Empress Matilda contested the kingdom ; Worcestershire proved to be a key battleground in the war . The first attack on Worcester itself occurred in late 1139 , when an Angevin army from Gloucestershire assaulted the city ; after an attempt to take the castle on the south side of the city , the Gloucester forces entered from the north , looting and burning the city . As a result , Walter de Beauchamp chose to side with Matilda . Worcester became a base for Stephen ' s forces for a period , with Stephen replacing Walter as the constable with Waleron de Beaumont , before the city and castle were reclaimed for the Empress by Robert of Gloucester . In response , Stephen first stormed and burnt the city in 1148 , and then attacked it again in 1150 , shortly before the end of the conflict . Two neighbouring siege castles were built by Stephen as part of these operations , designed to contain Worcester Castle itself , one at Henwick Hill the other at Red Hill . After the conflict , Walter was finally reaffirmed as the constable of Worcester Castle by Henry II , the Empress ' s son . By the end of the 13th century , William de Beauchamp – the grandson of Walter de Beauchamp – controlled the castle on behalf of the king . In the 12th century there was a trend in England for stone castles to replace their earth and timber counterparts , and in 1204 King John ordered the sheriff of Worcester to rebuild the gatehouse " which is now of timber , with good and fine stone " . John ' s work cost £25 , and was one of a number of repairs and improvements during the period : £12 was spent maintaining the castle in 1183 , for example , while in 1192 £5 4s was spent on the internal buildings and in 1203 work on the stables came to £6 3s . Civil war broke out again in England in 1215 between forces loyal to King John and rebel barons , supported in due course by Prince Louis of France . John annexed the castle in 1214 and William sided with the rebels in 1216 . King John responded by sending forces to attack the castle and successfully retook it . Despite John ' s death , the war continued until forces loyal to John ' s young son , Henry III , finally achieved victory over the rebels in 1217 . Meanwhile , the 11th century dispute over the cathedral graveyard had continued unabated and in 1217 Henry III ' s government decided to announce that the disputed land would be granted to the cathedral . A panel met to agree exactly how the land should be divided , concluding that the division should run straight across the bailey ; the far side was returned to the cathedral , making the remainder of the castle unusable from a military perspective . Henry thus ingratiated himself with the church and broke the power of the Beauchamps in the city by crippling their local fortress . The castle nevertheless continued in use for a time , partially because the Worcestershire County gaol was situated in the outer bailey ; the earliest record of this gaol is from 1221 , when a porter was recorded as being employed as a gaoler . The gaol appears to have been built of wood during the medieval period . Escapees remained a problem ; some were recorded during the 1220s , and during Second Barons ' War , Worcester was captured and all the prisoners released . Later in the same war , Henry III was imprisoned there for a period by Simon de Montfort . The castle was also used as one of the locations for the Worcestershire county court and election of local officials . 14th – 19th centuries . The sheriffs of Worcestershire continued to control the castle as constables , and the property passed along hereditary lines from the Beauchamps to the Earls of Warwick until Richard Neville , also known as the " Kingmaker " , died during the Wars of the Roses in 1471 . The victorious Edward IV divided up the various estates that Neville had owned and gave the castle to his so , severing the link between Worcester and the earldom of Warwick . The final constables were appointed during the 1540s , after which the practice of appointing constables ceased altogether . The castle ' s walls were quarried for stone , the motte was used to keep animals on and only the sheriff ' s county gaol remained intact . The antiquarian John Leland recorded in the 1540s that the castle was " now clean down " , and that the motte was still of an impressive size but heavily overgrown . A gatehouse known as Edgar ' s Tower was built by the cathedral on the site of the earlier castle gatehouse , to control access to the former bailey . In 1628 the castle site was granted by the Crown to Giles Clutterbuck ; the local gentry complained , leading to a legal case in which the county successfully reclaimed the site . In 1642 England descended into a period of civil war between the Royalist supporters of Charles I and the supporters of Parliament . Worcester ' s city walls were refortified and a sconce , or small fort , was built on top of the motte of Worcester Castle . The castle continued to be used as the county gaol after the war and in 1653 a new gaol , built from stone and brick , was constructed in the castle grounds . In 1770s the prison reformer John Howard inspected the gaol and was very critical of the facility . In particular he complained about the castle ' s underground dungeon , accessed down a flight of 26 steps ; the room was circular , 18 feet ( 5 . 5 m ) across , and guarded by an iron grill . Worcester conducted extensive work after the report at a cost of £3 , 431 ( £364 , 000 at 2009 prices ) , and by 1788 the prison had 18 new cells for men and two for women , in addition to the dungeon and the sick - rooms . Nevertheless it was housing 74 inmates at the time of Howard ' s inspection , with two prisoners routinely sharing each cell , sleeping together on the floor . Like other prisons of the time , Worcester Castle was run as a private enterprise , in this case by a local butcher , who was paid £150 a year ( £15 , 400 ) to run the facility . The prison was known to suffer from outbreaks of gaol fever , which claimed the life of a local doctor who visited the facility . A new county gaol was built in 1814 , at a cost of £20 , 000 ( £1 . 1m ) with a more modern system of radiating wings ; this was constructed on the north side of Worcester where the local street was named " Castle Street " as a result . The Dean and Chapter of Worcester Cathedral acquired the old gaol in 1823 . The outer bailey of the castle became known as the College Green ; the College Green was accessed through Edgar ' s Tower . The motte was slowly demolished between 1823 and 1846 .