Newbury Castle
Newbury Castle is the name given to an adulterine castle site built by John Marshal during The Anarchy, northwest of Newbury and associated with a siege by King Stephen in 1152. The visible remains today are three earthen mottes near the village of Hamstead Marshall. The site is known from medieval chronicles rather than surviving masonry.
Its prime
1152
Today
Ruin
As it stood in 1152
The shape it held in its prime.
At its prime the site comprised three prominent conical earthen mottes rising from open Berkshire pasture near the village of Hamstead Marshall, each mound forming a steep-sided, grassy cone punctuating a low agricultural skyline. The mottes were surmounted by compact fortified platforms (timber superstructures would have topped the summits), with surrounding fields, hedgerows and scattered thatched cottages in the foreground; no extensive stone curtain walls dominate the silhouette.
Its story
The story of Newbury Castle.
Newbury Castle was an adulterine castle built by John Marshal during The Anarchy. King Stephen besieged it in 1152, holding Marshal's young son William — the future William Marshal — hostage against its surrender. When the elder Marshal refused to comply, Stephen threatened to have the boy catapulted over the walls; John answered defiantly, 'I have the anvils and the hammer to forge still better sons.' Stephen relented, and the boy survived.
Despite appearing proudly on Newbury's coat of arms, the castle does not appear to have been built in Newbury at all, but four miles away in the village of Hamstead Marshall, where the mottes of three castles can be found — consistent with the general siege tactics of the period. The site is known from medieval chronicles, among them the History of William the Marshal, rather than from surviving masonry.
Step inside
5 places to explore in 1152.
The record describes 5 distinct spots at Newbury Castle — including the full exterior approach. 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 Newbury Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1152 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate Castle to Explore →Whose castle
Clans who held Newbury Castle.
The families that held Newbury Castle for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
Marshal
Built by John Marshal during The Anarchy and held by him against King Stephen's siege of 1152.
