England · Demolished
Baynard's Castle
Baynard's Castle was a riverside London seat whose buildings occupied two neighbouring sites beside the Thames and the mouth of the River Fleet. The medieval mansion rebuilt and extended in the 15th and early 16th centuries served as a Yorkist and royal residence before being gutted in the Great Fire of London in 1666; the site is now occupied by modern offices.
First raised
1086
Its prime
1509
Today
Demolished
As it stood in 1509
The shape it held in its prime.
A long riverside stone façade built directly on reclaimed river-bank, punctuated by five projecting rectangular bays along the front and flanked by two larger polygonal corner towers; the bays rise to steep pitched roofs with repeated triangular gables. The river-front stands on or above the waterfront with small landing steps and neighbouring timber houses on piles beside it. Round and polygonal masonry towers appear at intervals; narrow paired windows appear on the vertical faces.
Its story
The story of Baynard's Castle.
Ralph Baynard, 1st feudal baron of Little Dunmow, raised the original Norman fortification where the Roman river wall and the River Fleet met the Thames, its north wall founded on 3rd-century Roman masonry. His grandson William Baynard forfeited it early in Henry I's reign for backing Robert Curthose; it later passed to Eustace, Count of Boulogne, then to the king's steward Robert Fitz Richard, before King John demolished it in 1213. The site was sold in 1276 for the Blackfriars' monastery.
About a century later a new mansion rose on land reclaimed from the Thames to the south-east. Rebuilt after 1428, it became the London headquarters of the House of York during the Wars of the Roses — Edward IV's accession was agreed and proclaimed there on 3 March 1461 — and Henry VII reconstructed it as a royal palace; Henry VIII gave it to Katherine of Aragon on the eve of their wedding.
In 1551 the house was granted to William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke, who built a large extension around a second courtyard. The Herberts took Parliament's side in the Civil War, and after the Restoration the house was occupied by Francis Talbot, 11th Earl of Shrewsbury, until the Great Fire of 1666 left it in ruins. Fragments survived into the 19th century; a BT office now occupies the site, remembered in Castle Baynard Street and ward.
Step inside
6 places to explore in 1509.
The record describes 6 distinct spots at Baynard's Castle — including 1 interior: great hall (interior). Create your own photoreal reconstruction and walk through every one — more scenes means more photos, more angles and more rooms of the immersive experience.
Create History
Recreate Baynard's Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1509 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate Castle to Explore →Whose castle
Clans who held Baynard's Castle.
The families that held Baynard's Castle for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
Baynard
Built by Ralph Baynard, 1st feudal baron of Little Dunmow, and held by his son Geoffrey and grandson William until forfeiture early in Henry I's reign (1100–1135).
Clare
Granted with the barony of Little Dunmow to Robert Fitz Richard (1064–1136), younger son of Richard fitz Gilbert de Clare, later in Henry I's reign.
York
London headquarters of the House of York during the Wars of the Roses; Edward IV's accession was agreed and proclaimed here on 3 March 1461.
Granted to William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke, in 1551; the Herberts extended it and held it through the Civil War on Parliament's side.
