Battle-weary medieval kings, eminent Victorian architects and some of Britain’s greatest artistic treasures have all passed below Muncaster Castle’s imposing walls during its long and distinguished lifetime.
Built from distinctive red stone, and boasting a 14th-century peel tower, the castle today emanates power and permanence from its perch on the western edge of the Lake District. Yet it has seen successive waves of change – and borne witness to some of the most remarkable episodes in British history – since it first appeared in the Cumbrian landscape in the Middle Ages.
The castle, which has been owned (and occupied) by the Pennington family since 1208 (perhaps earlier), was originally built as a defence against Scottish raids into northwest England. So it began life as an austere fortress on the frontline of the violence that regularly erupted near the Anglo-Scottish border. But, starting in the 16th century, the Pennington family carried out extensive remodelling to convert the castle into a home.