Brough Castle Brough Castle is a ruined castle in the village of Brough , England . The castle was built by William Rufus around 1092 within the old Roman fort of " Verterae " to protect a key route through the Pennine mountains . The initial motte and bailey castle was attacked and destroyed by the Scots in 1174 during the Great Revolt against Henry II . Rebuilt after the war , a square keep was constructed and the rest of the castle converted to stone . The Clifford family took possession of Brough after the Second Barons ' War in the 1260s ; they built Clifford ' s Tower and undertook a sequence of renovations to the castle , creating a fortification in a typical northern English style . In 1521 , however , Henry Clifford held a Christmas feast at the castle , after which a major fire broke out , destroying the property . The castle remained abandoned until Lady Anne Clifford restored the property between 1659 and 1661 , using it as one of her northern country homes . In 1666 another fire broke out , once again rendering the castle uninhabitable . Brough Castle went into sharp decline and was stripped first of its fittings and then its stonework . The castle ' s masonry began to collapse around 1800 . In 1921 , Brough Castle was given to the state and is now run by English Heritage as a tourist attraction . It is a listed building and a scheduled monument . 11th century . Brough Castle was built on the site of the Roman fort of " Verterae " , a three - acre fortification that was occupied until the 5th century . The site protected the Stainmore Pass that stretched from the River Eden across the Pennines , and the Roman road connecting Carlisle and Ermine Street , a valuable trading route during the period . Following the Norman conquest of England in 1066 , William the Conqueror subdued the north of the country in a sequence of harsh campaigns , and the north - west region became a contested border territory between the Normans and the Scottish kings . William ' s son , William Rufus , invaded the north - west in 1091 and built Brough Castle around 1092 , placing it in the north part of the old Roman fort in order to make use of the existing earthworks , in a similar way to nearby Brougham and Lancaster . The north side of the site overlooks the River Eden . This castle appears to have been a motte and bailey design ; the keep had stone foundations and a main structure built from timber , while the rest of the former fort was turned into a palisade d bailey . The village of Church Brough was created alongside the castle at around the same time , in the form of a planned settlement , part of the Norman colonisation of the low - lands in the region . 12th century . The region around Brough continued to be disputed between the kings of England and Scotland ; in 1173 , William the Lion of Scotland invaded as part of the Great Revolt against the rule of Henry II . William ' s army struck south but failed to take Wark and moved on to attack Carlisle instead ; when that failed too , they successfully took Appleby before turning their attention to Brough . Brough , guarded by six knight s , put up a strong resistance , but William took the outer defences and then besieged the keep , threatening to execute the garrison if the castle was not surrendered . The keep was set on fire , forcing the surrender of the garrison , including one knight who , according the chronicler Jordan Fantosme , fought on first with spears and then wooden stakes , until finally overwhelmed . William then destroyed the remaining defences of the castle using Flemish mercenary troops . Henry II ' s forces defeated William at the battle of Alnwick and Brough Castle was recovered later in the year . Henry II had a square stone keep constructed in the 1180s by first Theobald de Valoignes and then Hugh de Morville , who rebuilt the remains of the castle . It was placed into the bailey wall , allowing it to directly support the outer defences . Thomas de Wyrkington conducted further work between 1199 and 1202 for King John , converting the castle entirely into stone . 13th – 15th centuries . King John granted the lordship of Westmoreland , including Brough , to Robert de Vieuxpont in 1203 . Robert enlarged the castle in order to exert his authority over the region , where he was competing for control with other members of his extended family . Robert died in 1228 , leaving substantial debts of £2 , 000 to the Crown and passing the castle to his young son , John . His son ' s guardian , Hubert de Burgh appointed the Prior of Carlisle to run the estate and the castle was left to fall into ruin . John died supporting the rebels during the Second Barons ' War between 1264 and 1267 and his lands were divided between his two daughters , Isabel and Idonea . Isabel de Vieuxpont inherited Brough and the eastern Vieuxpont estates ; Henry III gave guardianship of some of these lands to Roger de Clifford ; Roger then married Isabel , acquiring all her lands and beginning a long period of Clifford control of the castle . The Cliffords successfully recombined the former Vieuxpont estates by 1333 , and were able to controlled the Eden valley through their castles at Appleby , Brougham , Pendragon and Brough . Robert Clifford controlled Brough by around 1308 and improved the defences , rebuilding the east wall and constructing a new hall , alongside his apartments which were located in a new circular tower , called Clifford ' s Tower . These apartments may have been similar to those surviving at Appleby Castle , also built by Robert . Robert died fighting the Scots at the battle of Bannockburn and the region around the castle was attacked in 1314 and 1319 , causing significant damage to neighbouring Church Brough . Around this time the village of Market Brough was established along the road overlooked by the castle , in an attempt by the Cliffords to maximise the possibilities for profits from trade along the valley . Market Brough acquired a royal charter in 1330 and seems to have rapidly overtaken Church Brough as the main settlement in the area . In the 1380s Roger , the fifth baron , decided to modify the castle , partially to improve the defences . Roger conducted work to most of the Clifford castles in the area and at Brough he rebuilt the south wall and reconstructed the living accommodation , replacing the existing hall with a more fashionable first - floor hall and chamber block . Clifford ' s Tower was converted for use as bedrooms and some of the old hall was converted into a solar . in With the exception of Clifford ' s Tower , these renovations at Brough reflected the popular architectural style of castles in the north of England at the time , stressing square lines and towers in preference to the rounder shapes prevalent in the south . The bailey was cobbled over at around this time . The gatehouse was reinforced with buttresses and an additional courtyard built within the bailey around 1450 , possibly by Thomas Clifford . During the Wars of the Roses between the rival houses of the Lancastrians and the Yorkists , the Clifford supported the Lancastrians . Thomas died in 1455 , followed by his son John in 1461 ; Brough was temporarily seized from the Cliffords by the Yorkists , until John ' s son Henry was restored to his lands in 1485 by Henry VII . 16th – 17th centuries . Henry Clifford used the castle until 1521 , when a fire broke out after a lavish Christmas Feast , destroying the inhabitable parts of the castle . Henry died shortly afterwards and the castle remained ruined for many years . The castle was restored in the 17th century by Lady Anne Clifford , a major landowner in the Clifford family who retired to the north during the years of the Commonwealth after the English Civil War . Although Anne was a royalist , she was protected by powerful friends within the ruling Parliamentary faction and able to enjoy her properties freely . She rebuilt a number of the Clifford castles , including Brough , where she conducted restoration work between 1659 and 1661 . Anne undertook more work at Brough than any where else on her estates , aiming to restore it to its pre - 1521 condition . Although Anne would have been familiar with contemporary styles , her restoration work was quite traditional in approach , drawing on existing northern castle architecture and deliberately trying to recreate 12th century features in the keep . As part of this work , new windows , a ground floor entrance to the keep and new service accommodation was installed to allow her to live a late 17th century lifestyle , and the castle had 24 fireplaces by 1665 . Anne renamed Brough ' s keep as " the Roman Tower " , in the belief that it had been built by the Romans . She divided her time at the castle between living in Clifford ' s Tower , part of the castle ' s apartments and , as work progressed , the keep ; by 1665 , she was able to spend her Christmas at the castle for the first time . In 1666 another fire struck the castle , however , rendering it uninhabitable . In the aftermath , the remaining buildings in the bailey was converted for use as a law court , and Anne died in 1676 , the castle unrestored . 18th – 21st centuries . Anne ' s daughter , Margaret , married John Tufton , the Earl of Thanet . John ' s son , Thomas , stripped the castle around 1695 to support the reconstruction of Appleby Castle . The furnishings were sold in 1714 and in 1763 much of the stone from Clifford ' s Tower was plundered for use in the construction of Brough Mill ; the castle was subsequently completely abandoned . The south - west corner of the keep partially collapsed around 1800 . In 1920 more of the south - west corner collapsed and the castle ' s owner , Lord Hothfield , gave the property to the Office of Works . Work to stabilise the ruins was carried out and the castle , as a listed building and ancient monument , eventually passed into the control of English Heritage as a tourist attraction . There were initial archaeological excavations on the site in 1925 , and then further work in 1970 - 71 , 1993 , 2007 and 2009 . Erosion continues to be a threat to the castle ' s masonry , and as of 2010 English Heritage considered the castle ' s condition to be declining , with some parts at particular risk .