Castles and palaces

Aerial view of Dover Castle

Explore Explore Dover Castle: Britain’s first line of defence

Chatsworth House, where Elizabeth I ordered for Mary, Queen of Scots to be imprisoned after she abdicated and fled from Scotland to England in 1567. (Photo by Chatsworth House Trust)

Britain’s 7 most amazing stately homes

The ruins of Dunluce Castle, which sit on the coastal cliffs of North Antrim in Northern Ireland. They are thought to have been the inspiration for CS Lewis’s castle Cair Paravel in ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ (1950–56). (Photo by Andrea Ricordi/Contributor/Getty Images)

9 of Britain’s best castles

Blenheim Palace in a c1880 print from ‘A Series of Picturesque Views of Seats of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland’, edited by Reverend FO Morris, Volume I, William Mackenzie, London. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

10 things you might not know about Blenheim Palace – ‘the real Downton Abbey’

Penrhyn Castle, Gwynedd, Wales. (Photo by Getty Images)

5 British castles with romantic histories

A statue of Robert the Bruce at Stirling Castle in Scotland. The castle "is in many ways like a bottleneck – so much of Scottish and British history passes through it and goes off to its eventual destination,” says Neil Oliver. (Photo by Iain Masterton via Getty Images)

BBC presenter Neil Oliver on his top 5 must-visit places in Britain

The entrance to Bodiam Castle. "If any castle conjures up the ‘romance’ of the mediaeval world, this is it," says Michael Smith. (Photo by Andrew Ray/LOOP IMAGES via Getty Images)

From magnificent ruins to imposing forts: 10 must-visit British castles

The siege of Orleans

Q&A Did castle defenders really pour boiling oil down on attackers?

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Royal palaces of the Hundred Years’ War

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The Romanovs and King Arthur

Dover Castle, Kent. (Photo by Olaf Protze/LightRocket via Getty Images)

England’s 8 most amazing castles

Marco Ricci, A View of the Cascade, Bushy Park Water Gardens, c.1715.

Royal Collection Trust / copyright Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2014

Single use only in relation to the exhibition 'Painting Paradise: The Art of the Garden' at The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace. Photographs must not be archived or sold on.

In pictures: The Art of the Garden

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Hampton Court Palace’s Georgian Kitchen Garden: in pictures

Clifford's Tower, York, North Yorkshire, 1997. Clifford's Tower is the keep of the former York castle. The present stone keep was built on the man-made earth motte in the early 14th century, and due to subsidence it cracked in two places. (Photo by English Heritage/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Yorkshire’s top 10 historical sites as county prepares for Tour de France 2014