England · Partial ruin
Starborough Castle
Starborough Castle (Sterborough Castle) was a medieval quadrangular fortified manor house built c.1341 and crenellated in 1342; it stood on a moated island south of the River Eden. The medieval castle was slighted in 1648 and later the north-east corner was reused when a Neo‑Gothic garden house was built on the site in 1754. Today the site retains its moat and a restored 18th‑century pavilion on the island.
First raised
1341
Its prime
1415
Today
Partial ruin
As it stood in 1415
What Starborough Castle looked like in its prime.
A compact quadrangular stone castle on a fully moated island, with four corner towers linked by continuous curtain walls topped by crenellated parapets. The south side is dominated by a gatehouse approached by a single central bridge across the moat. The silhouette is low and regular, towers rising only a little above the curtain, enclosing a central open courtyard; at its prime the fabric is complete and uninterrupted around the island.
Its story
The story of Starborough Castle.
The first Starborough Castle was the manor house of Reginald de Cobham, 1st Baron Cobham of Sterborough, who was granted licence to crenellate by Edward III on 18 October 1341; fortified the following year, it stood on a moated artificial island south of the River Eden, near Edenbridge on the eastern boundary of Surrey. After the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the Duke of Orleans was for a time held captive in the castle.
The castle passed to Edward Burgh through his marriage of about 1476 to Anne Cobham, daughter of Sir Thomas, de jure 5th Baron Cobham of Sterborough. Slighted in 1648, the medieval house was gone when Sir James Burrow built the present Neo-Gothic garden house of dressed sandstone on the north-eastern portion of the island in 1754.
Sold in 1793 to Sir Thomas Turton, who cleared the moat and improved the water supply, the site went to William Bruce Smith in 1812, James Moore in 1870 and R V Toynbee in 1933, by which time it was ruined. In the 1970s Ray Edwards, a local farmer and builder, restored the Gothic pavilion — now a Grade II* listed building and scheduled monument — before selling it to the London gallery owner Warwick Leadlay.
Step inside
5 places to explore in 1415.
The record describes 5 distinct spots at Starborough Castle — including 1 interior: central courtyard. 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 Starborough Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1415 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate this castle →Whose castle
Clans who held Starborough Castle.
The families that held Starborough Castle for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
Cobham
Held by the Cobham Barons of Sterborough from the 1341 licence to crenellate until c.1476.
Burgh
Passed to Edward Burgh through his c.1476 marriage to Anne Cobham, daughter of the 5th Baron Cobham of Sterborough.
Nearby
