England · Ruin
Benington Castle
Benington Castle is the earthwork and foundation remains of a late 11th/12th-century motte-and-bailey in Benington, Hertfordshire. A stone keep was added in the 12th century, later slighted and finally destroyed in the early 13th century; only foundations and earthworks survive. The site was later incorporated into the grounds of the Georgian Benington Lordship and its gardens, with limited public access.
Its prime
1192
Today
Ruin
As it stood in 1192
What Benington Castle looked like in its prime.
A motte-and-bailey castle set on a raised earthen motte, topped by a compact stone keep built of flint-faced rubble with larger dressed corner stones; the keep has narrow vertical arrow-slit windows. A low stone curtain and earthen banks enclose the adjacent bailey, with a stream and dam forming part of the outer defence. The castle sits in parkland beside a village church and would appear as a solitary stone keep and enclosing walls rising from grassy earthworks.
Its story
The story of Benington Castle.
Benington Castle began as a motte-and-bailey, founded in the late 11th or early 12th century by Peter de Valognes. In 1136 Roger de Valognes built a stone castle with a keep, a tower that stood barely two generations, for in 1177 Henry II ordered it demolished, one of at least 21 castles the historian Sidney Painter counts as slighted on that king's orders.
The castle was back in use by 1192, but was finally destroyed in 1212 after Robert Fitzwalter rebelled against King John. Only the foundations of the keep and some earthworks survive, protected as a scheduled monument since 1936, within the privately owned grounds of Benington Lordship.
Step inside
6 places to explore in 1192.
The record describes 6 distinct spots at Benington Castle, including the full exterior approach. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Build Your Own Castle
Recreate Benington Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1192, a photoreal reconstruction that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
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Clans who held Benington Castle.
The families that held Benington Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
de Valognes
Founded by Peter de Valognes in the late 11th or early 12th century; Roger de Valognes added the stone keep in 1136.
Nearby
