England · Partial ruin
Mackworth Castle
Mackworth Castle was a 14th- or 15th-century manor-castle complex at the upper end of Mackworth village in Derbyshire, long held by the Mackworth family. Today most of the site is lost and the surviving element is a square, heavily battlemented gatehouse which is a Grade I listed ruin and part of a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
Its prime
1500
Today
Partial ruin
As it stood in 1500
What Mackworth Castle looked like in its prime.
A compact, square, heavily battlemented gatehouse stands as the dominant element, with a crenellated parapet and a fortified entrance passage; the gatehouse reads as a separate masonry block in the silhouette. To the west of the gatehouse are rectangular yard spaces once enclosed by low rubble walls; these former domestic ranges were timber-framed on low rubble foundations. The overall plan is tight and domestic rather than an extended concentric castle, sited at the upper end of the village.
Its story
The story of Mackworth Castle.
Mackworth Castle was a 14th- or 15th-century structure at the upper end of Mackworth village near Derby, for several centuries the home of the Mackworth family. It remained in the family until 1655 or 1656, when Sir Thomas Mackworth, 3rd Baronet, who had relocated to Normanton in Rutland, sold it to Sir John Curzon, 1st Baronet.
A 1911 survey suggested that though the gatehouse resembled a castle, the rest of the structure may have been more modest — its walls likely timber-framed on low rubble, like the nearby 14th-century house of the Tuchet family, for whom the Mackworths served as stewards. Emery wrote that the gateway was "no more than a display structure, a very early example of that hankering for a world of chivalry and romance that had already passed."
The square, heavily battlemented gatehouse survives as a Grade I listed ruin within a Scheduled Ancient Monument — and had a Hollywood turn as the scene of events in the 1954 film The Black Shield of Falworth, starring Tony Curtis and based on Howard Pyle's 19th-century novel Men of Iron.
Step inside
6 places to explore in 1500.
The record describes 6 distinct spots at Mackworth Castle — including 1 interior: gatehouse entrance passage. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and walk through every one — more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Create History
Recreate Mackworth Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1500 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate this castle →Whose castle
Clans who held Mackworth Castle.
The families that held Mackworth Castle for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
Mackworth
Home of the Mackworth family for several centuries, until sold in 1655–56.
Curzon
Bought by Sir John Curzon, 1st Baronet, in 1655–56.
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