England · Restored
Dacre Castle
Dacre Castle is a mid-14th-century moated tower house in the village of Dacre, Cumbria, built of local sandstone and long held by the Dacre family. The surviving structure is a square central block with four projecting turrets, surrounded by a three-sided moat and an enclosed courtyard; it was renovated in later centuries and today is a private home and Grade I listed building.
First raised
1400
Its prime
1350
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1350
The shape it held in its prime.
A tall, square sandstone tower house about 66 feet high, with a crenellated roofline and four projecting turrets (two larger on one side, two smaller angular buttress-like turrets on the other) rising directly from the central block. The building sits in the north-east corner of a three-sided moat enclosing an east-facing courtyard; stone is local sandstone with visible coursing, narrow medieval openings, and a simple exterior stair to the entrance in later eras.
Its story
The story of Dacre Castle.
Dacre Castle was built in the mid-14th century, probably by Margaret Multon, wife of Ralph Dacre, against the background of the threat of Scottish invasion and raids. The Dacres had risen to prominence in Cumberland during the 12th and early 13th centuries — Ralph's father William acquired a licence to crenellate nearby Dunmallogt in 1307 — and the family held the castle until Randal Dacre's death in 1634, when it passed briefly to the Crown.
The tower house stands 66 feet tall in local sandstone behind a three-sided moat: a square central block with four protruding turrets, topped by crenellations, with an ornate lavabo in the first-floor hall. The large second-floor chamber is traditionally called the "Room of the Three Kings", after the legend described by William of Malmesbury.
Derelict by 1675, the castle was restored by the then Lord Dacre, Thomas Lennard, and sold after his death in 1715 to Edward Hassell. It deteriorated again in the 18th century, and by the 19th the Hassells were using it as a farmhouse; in the 21st century it is owned by the Hassell-McCosh family and rented out as a private home, a Grade I listed building.
Step inside
9 places to explore in 1350.
The record describes 9 distinct spots at Dacre Castle — including 5 interiors: original south-west turret ground-floor entrance, first-floor main hall with ornate lavabo, vaulted ground-floor chamber and more. 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 Dacre Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1350 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate Castle to Explore →Whose castle
Clans who held Dacre Castle.
The families that held Dacre Castle for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
Dacre
Built in the mid-14th century, probably by Margaret Multon, wife of Ralph Dacre; held by the Dacres until Randal Dacre's death in 1634.
Lennard
Thomas Lennard, Lord Dacre, restored the derelict castle around 1675; it was sold after his death in 1715.
Hassell
Sold to Edward Hassell in 1715; owned by the Hassell-McCosh family in the 21st century.
