Stafford Castle Stafford Castle lies two miles to the west of Stafford , just off the A518 Stafford - to - Newport Road , and can be seen from and to the east of the M6 motorway . The stone building is an important early example of a 19th - century Gothic Revival Keep . The structure was built on the foundations of its medieval predecessor and incorporates much of the original stonework . History . Medieval and Early Modern . A wooden castle was originally built on the site at some time in the 1070s by the Norman lord Robert de Tosny who had been given a large amount of land in the area by William of Normandy in order to control the still hostile and rebellious native Anglo - Saxon community . Shortly before the castle was built Eadric the Wild had led a failed rebellion which culminated in the defeat of the Saxons at the battle of Stafford in 1069 . The first development was built in the classic motte and bailey style , although it incorporated two baileys and a village beyond . The outline of the site ' s defences can still be seen today . The banks and ditches have been interpreted by an archaeological illustrator whose watercolours feature on a Heritage Trail which encompases much of the ten acre site . The trail takes 45 minutes to walk with short - cuts which are either fifteen minutes ( trial - boards 1 – 5 and straight up the inner bailey gateway ) or ten minutes ( board 1 and 10 which is straight up the modern drive ) . Each of the boards has a map , so it is difficult to get lost . The castle was originally a timber and earth fortification , built on modified glacial deposit . The artificial horizon of the motte or mound is still well defined , as are many of the ditches . The earthworks cover over ten acres , while the site backs onto woodland ( sixteen acres ) , which may once have been cleared for housing livestock . Beyond these earthworks once lay three medieval deer parks . Ralph de Stafford sealed a contract with a master mason in 1347 , ordering a castle to be built on the castle mound . The rectangular stone Keep originally had a tower in each corner , but was later adapted , with a fifth tower being added on in the middle of the North Wall ( actually facing west ) . Some three years later , Ralph , who had been one of the King ' s leading commanders in the first phases of the Hundred Years ' War , was created first Earl of Stafford , a signal honour . In 1444 , Humphrey Stafford was created Duke of Buckingham and the castle reached its heyday . Humphrey ' s grandson , Henry , had become a ward of the Yorkists following his death at the battle of Northampton in 1460 . Henry was initially a supporter of Richard III , but later rebelled in favour of the aborted invasion of Henry Tudor ( Henry VII ) in 1483 . Henry Stafford , second Duke of Buckingham paid with his life , but his son , Edward Stafford , escaped and was later restored to his lands by a grateful Henry VII . Edward Stafford ' s royal blood made him a threat to Henry VIII , who had him executed in 1521 . The Stafford ' s Estate , which included the castle and its deer parks , was seized by the Crown . The King ' s auditors commented on the deer to be had in the parks and though the castle might be a suitable stop - off on one of the King ' s progresses . Stafford Castle , along with a small parcel of land , was restored to the Staffords , but they never regained the wealth or status of earlier years . Through lack of maintenance , the Keep fell into disrepair and in 1603 , Edward Stafford wrote a letter in which he referred to ' My rotten castle of Stafford . ' During the early phases of the Civil War it was defended by Lady Isobel , a staunch Roman Catholic and Royalist . The Parliamentarians had captured Stafford on 15 May 1643 , following a brief siege , but some of its garrison escaped and held Stafford Castle , with the hope of using it as a bridgehead to recapture the town . Colonel Brereton rode up to the castle with some of his men and called upon Lady Stafford to surrender , which she refused . In response ' some of the poor outhouses were set on fire to try whether these would work their spirits to any relenting . All in vain , for from the castle they shot some of our men and horses which did much enrage and provoke the rest to a fierce revenge . Almost all the dwelling houses and outhouses were burnt to the ground . ' The siege was raised when Colonel Hastings led a relief column which arrived on 5 June . Lady Isobel was eventually persuaded to leave , a small garrison remaining to defend the castle against a renewed siege . Finally , in late June , the Royalist garrison fled , having heard of information that a large Parliamentarian army was approaching , complete with a number of siege cannons capable of easily overwhelming the small garrison that remained . The castle then fell into Parliamentarian control in which it stayed until its demolition . On 22 December , not many months after its capture , the Parliamentarian Committee of Stafford , ordered : ' the Castle shall be forthwith demolished . ' The order was carried - out with the loss of a crowbar ! When the traveller and diarist , Celia Fiennes passed through the county town in 1698 , she noted : ' . . . the castle which is now ruinated and there only remains on a hill the fortified trenches that are grown over green . ' Victorian . The castle was partly rebuilt in the Gothic Revival Style from 1813 , but work was discontinued partly through the lack of funds , but also because the Jerningham family were elevated to the peerage ( one of their motives for the restoration project ) . Dubbed by some as a folly , this was never the case , as the Keep was always intended to be lived in , and was occupied well into the 20th century . It is a Grade II listed building . It is open to visitors and visible from the M6 motorway . From the Victorian era , the Keep was occupied by caretakers . Many Staffordians can remember the last caretakers , Mr and Mrs Stokes , who used to give tours of the structure and served cups of tea and home - make cakes for 3d . In winter Mr and Mrs Stokes used buy produce from the local farms and drag it up the drive on a sledge . One local recalled that he and his friends visited the Keep in mid - winter but Mrs Stokes wasn ' t too keen on taking them around and they were sent away - the boys used the sledge to speed off down the drive . Another boy tied a ' Stafford Knot ' in the lead water pipe which used to be at the bottom of the drive - evidently the 40 ' s was a time of ' creative vandalism ' . Modern . In the immediate post - war years the mature woodland that surrounded the Keep was felled , which may have led to the structure being exposed to high winds . By 1949 large pieces of masonry had begun to fall from the towers , which were declared unsafe . Mr and Mrs Stokes , the last caretakers of the castle and its grounds , vacated the building that winter . Sadly the site became a target for vandals and in 1961 Lord Stafford gave the Keep to the local authority . Not long afterwards a boy was killed when he fell from the unsafe South Front . In 1962 the towers and the remainder of the North Wing were reduced to the height of the North Front and made safe . Many people still believed that the Castle was a Georgian folly , although local historians were aware not only of its history but also that of the Stafford family . In 1978 excavations began to reveal the complex archaeology of the site , which had been for generations the seat of one of the most important families in the region . A heritage trail was established in 1988 , while three years on a purpose - built museum and gift shop opened on - site . Every summer events are performed in the grounds of the Castle , the most popular of which is the annual showing of various Shakespeare plays .