Penrith Castle

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Penrith Castle was built between 1399 and 1470 as a defense against Scottish raids. It is believed to have been first built by William Strickland who later become Bishop of Carlisle and Archbishop of Canterbury. The castle is situated within the town of Penrith, Cumbria, UK opposite the railway station.

The Castle was later developed by the Neville family and passed into the hands of the Crown and is thought to have been the sometime residence of King Richard III when he was Duke of Gloucester and Lord Warden of the Marches Toward Scotland.

The castle and the town remained part of the Crown Estate until the reign of William III who gave it and most other Crown property in Cumberland to his friend Hans Willem Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland. The castle eventully passed from the Earls and Dukes of Portland to the Dukes of Devonshire who sold it to the Lancaster & Carlisle Railway Company who built Penrith railway station it later passed into the ownership of the Penrith Urban District Council who in the 1920s converted the grounds into a public park and built housing nearby.

The castle is maintained now by English Heritage.