England · Partial ruin
Lewes Castle
Lewes Castle is a medieval motte-and-bailey castle in Lewes, East Sussex, notable for having two mottes. It sits on a man-made grassy mount north of the town high street and is built from local limestone and flint. Substantial masonry shell-keeps and curtain walls with towers date from the 12th–14th centuries.
Its prime
1340
Today
Partial ruin
As it stood in 1340
The shape it held in its prime.
A double-motte silhouette: two raised artificial mounds close together, each topped by a stone shell keep — one a taller, tower-like keep and the other an irregular, crenellated shell; curtain walls and short towers descend the slopes. Construction is visibly of local pale limestone and darker flint blocks. The castle crowns a steep grassy mound above the town, with terraced stone retaining walls and paths leading from the high street to the battlements, showing exposed medieval masonry.
Its story
The story of Lewes Castle.
William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey, built both of Lewes's mottes — Brack Mount shortly after the Norman Conquest of 1066 and the Keep by the late 11th century — making it, with Lincoln, one of only two castles in England built on two mottes. Masonry shell keeps replaced the original wooden palisades at the start of the 12th century, and the bailey gained a stone wall with towers.
Soldiers left the castle to engage Simon de Montfort at the Battle of Lewes in 1264. Towers were added to one of the shell keeps in the 13th century and a barbican gate in the 14th. When John, the 7th and last de Warenne earl, died without issue in 1347, he was buried in Lewes Priory and his title passed to his nephew Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel. Leased by the Sussex Archaeological Society from 1850, the castle was acquired by Charles Thomas-Stanford and gifted to the society in 1922.
Step inside
8 places to explore in 1340.
The record describes 8 distinct spots at Lewes Castle — including 2 interiors: brack mount (first motte) — shell keep interior, keep motte — shell keep 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 Lewes Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1340 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate Castle to Explore →Whose castle
Clans who held Lewes Castle.
The families that held Lewes Castle for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
Warenne
Built by William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey, after 1066 and held by the de Warenne earls until John, the 7th Earl, died without issue in 1347.
