Tamworth Castle is a Norman
motte and bailey castle set in the south-west corner of what was a Saxon burh,
it's located to dominate the approach over the two rivers which meet below the
Castle.
Its sandstone walls and superb herringbone wall - all that survives of the
"curtain wall" of the bailey are believed to date from the 1180s. They
replaced a palisade and wooden tower, built on the present artificial mound
shortly after the Norman Conquest of 1066.
Numerous additions and alterations have been made to the castle by succeeding
generations of owners. Until in the late 1890's, Marquis Townshend decided to
sell the Castle by auction. Tamworth Corporation purchased it to mark Queen
Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897. The purchase price of £3000 was later
raised by public subscription and the Castle was formally opened and dedicated
to the public two years later.
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