Bolingbroke Castle

Bolingbroke Castle was one of three castles built by Ranulf de Blondeville, Earl of Chester and Lincoln, in the 1220s after his return from crusade, and it later passed by marriage to John of Gaunt. His son Henry of Bolingbroke, the future Henry IV, was born here in 1367. The hexagonal enclosure castle then served as an administrative centre for the Duchy of Lancaster, which explains tower names such as the Auditor's Tower, and in 1643 a Royalist garrison held out against a Parliamentarian siege from October to mid-November. Slighted in 1652, it survives as low walls and tower bases inside a water-filled moat, with the octagonal King's Tower rebuilt in the mid-15th century and the earthworks of the Rout Yard to the south. The site is managed by Heritage Lincolnshire, and paths are cut through uneven grass from both Moat Lane entrances. Reviewers praise the information boards that explain each part of the ruins. Dogs on leads are welcome.