Tutbury Castle Tutbury Castle is a largely ruined medieval castle at Tutbury , Staffordshire , England , in the ownership of the Duchy of Lancaster . It is a Grade I listed building . Mary , Queen of Scots was a prisoner here . Early history . Tutbury Castle became the headquarters of Henry de Ferrers and was the centre of the wapentake of Appletree , which included Duffield Frith . With his wife Bertha , he endowed Tutbury Priory with two manors in about 1080 . It would seem that Tutbury at that time was a dependency of the Norman abbey of St Pierre ‑ sur ‑ Dives . The castle was destroyed by Prince Edward in 1264 after the rebellion of Robert de Ferrers , 6th Earl of Derby . In 1269 , after a further rebellion the lands were given to Edmund Crouchback and have remained part of the Duchy of Lancaster . Apart from the 12th century chapel the ruins date from the 14th and 15th centuries when the castle was rebuilt . In 1999 Lesley Smith became the Curator of the Castle . The Duchy of Lancaster granted her this position for which Smith works as Public Relations Officer . Mary , Queen of Scots at Tutbury . In June 1568 , Mary , Queen of Scots was at Carlisle Castle after fleeing from Scotland after her defeat at the battle of Langside , and the English Privy Council decided to lodge her either at Nottingham Castle , Fotheringhay Castle or Tutbury , so that she was further from the Scottish border or Yorkshire . In January 1569 the Scottish Queen was taken from Bolton Castle , going first to Ripon and staying a night nearby , then to Wetherby staying a night with John Vavasour at Hazlewood Castle , then on to Pontefract , Rotherham , Chesterfield , and Wingfield Manor . George Talbot , Earl of Shrewsbury was given detailed instructions for keeping Mary , which permitted him to lodge her at Sheffield from time to time ( which he preferred ) , and briefed him on what he should say to her regarding her political predicament . Tapestries , furniture , and bedding were sent from the Royal Wardrobe at the Tower of London to furnish Tutbury , but because of delays caused by poor weather Bess of Hardwick was asked to send her things from Sheffield . This left the Earl ' s houses at Sheffield unfurnished , so Mary had to go to Tutbury . She arrived on 4 February 1569 . She noted the castle was like a hunting lodge , with its enclosure on a slight hill reminiscent of the Bois de Vincennes , and complained of the damp , the wet plaster , and draughty ill - fitting old carpentry . The British Library has a sketch plan of her accommodation at Tutbury . In March the Earl of Shrewsbury described how Mary sat with Bess , Countess of Shrewsbury in the countess ' chamber at Tutbury with Lady Livingston and Mary Seton working at embroidery . She moved to Wingfield Manor in April . Mary was returned to Tutbury in September with increased guard and a reduced household . In November 1569 , following the Catholic Rising of the North , Mary was rushed south to Coventry where she stayed in an inn . Elizabeth sent orders for her return to Tutbury on Christmas Eve . The poor prisoner " pauvre prisonniere " , as she described herself , was back at Tutbury on 2 January 1570 . Mary was sent to Chatsworth in May 1570 . In January 1585 she once again returned to Tutbury via Wingfield Manor , and on the way stayed a night in Derby in the house of a widowed Mrs Beaumont . Her keepers Ralph Sadler and John Somer were made busy providing satisfactory hangings for Mary ' s bedchamber . Hangings brought from Lord Paget ' s nearby houses at Burton and Beaudesert were unsatisfactory . The queen ' s bedchamber was located at the top of a lodging ( immediately under its roof ) , which was built against the castle wall . This room was of timber construction , and had no windows looking out through the castle wall , its two windows looked into the castle court . Mary also had a billiard table . Ralph Sadler sometimes took Mary hunting with his hawks on the river Dove , no farther than three miles from the castle , with a guard of 40 or 50 men on horseback . Queen Elizabeth disapproved of this freedom and forbade it . On 19 April 1585 Mary was placed in the care of Sir Amyas Paulet , who took down Mary ' s cloth of estate from the chamber where he ate , and stopped Mary ' s servants using the wall walk near the gate . Paulet also curtailed her charitable activities in the town , and disarmed her Scottish servants , many of whom had pistols . In July she was allowed to hunt her greyhound after deer at Stockley Park near Anslow . By August Mary was anxious to move temporarily to another house so her lodgings could be swept and cleaned . Mary pointed out that the Earl of Shrewsbury followed this routine . However , Lord Paget ' s nearby houses and the house of Mr Henry Cavendish ( son of William Cavendish ) at Doveridge were not suitable to house all her train of servants . Paulet considered modifying her lodging or letting the queen use another part of the part of the castle which he occupied . Security was difficult for this other lodging , where Mary had stayed in 1569 . It had two chambers twenty - four feet above ground level , with windows looking over the dykes towards Tutbury town . The windows and a " house of office " , a latrine , could have been used for escape . On Christmas Eve 1585 , she finally moved to Chartley Castle . Hauntings . Reported sightings of ghost s include that of a soldier on the ramparts , a white lady in a window of the tower , and Mary , Queen of Scots . A number of visitors to the King ' s Bedroom reported feeling overcome and faint ; the room was closed to the public for a while after these reports , but has since been re - opened . The castle now hosts nocturnal both private and public . ghost hunts .