Scarborough Castle
THE GREAT TOWER
The great tower or keep was built by Henry II between 1159 and 1169. Intense bombardment during the siege of 1645 caused the collapse of the western wall, leaving an open-sided masonry shell. A vast, square structure, it stands over 90 feet (27 metres) high with walls 12 feet (3.5 metres) thick. Broad, regularly spaced buttresses articulate its faces.
Three levels of windows are visible externally; a fourth level, now blocked, is visible within the basement. The modern entrance broadly reflects a lost medieval system of access via a flight of stone steps that rose along the south face of the great tower through a forebuilding, now largely ruined, to the first floor.
The tower’s internal arrangements suggest that it served as a grand residence. The stumps of an east–west cross wall are visible, dividing both first and second floors into two main rooms. The walls were laced with passages and chambers.
Press L for a better view
Scarborough Castle
THE GREAT TOWER
The great tower or keep was built by Henry II between 1159 and 1169. Intense bombardment during the siege of 1645 caused the collapse of the western wall, leaving an open-sided masonry shell. A vast, square structure, it stands over 90 feet (27 metres) high with walls 12 feet (3.5 metres) thick. Broad, regularly spaced buttresses articulate its faces.
Three levels of windows are visible externally; a fourth level, now blocked, is visible within the basement. The modern entrance broadly reflects a lost medieval system of access via a flight of stone steps that rose along the south face of the great tower through a forebuilding, now largely ruined, to the first floor.
The tower’s internal arrangements suggest that it served as a grand residence. The stumps of an east–west cross wall are visible, dividing both first and second floors into two main rooms. The walls were laced with passages and chambers.
Press L for a better view