Thornbury Castle is a spectacular Tudor country house more than a true defensive fortress and is now a luxury hotel.

The buildings and grounds are open to diners and residents but you can still view external areas.

~ History ~

1060's ~ Brictric 'the fair', a powerful Saxon nobleman of Thornbury spurns the advances of Matilda of Flanders. Matilda later marries Duke William of Normandy who invades England and defeats the Saxon King Harold at the Battle of Hastings.

Britric is imprisoned and sees all his lands seized which are awarded to Queen Matilda. Britric is left to starve to death.

1521 ~ Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham builds Thornbury castle to reflect his growing wealth and influence.

He is granted permission to fortify his country manor house and does so on a such a scale of grandeur that it matches the King's own home at Richmond Palace. Long under suspicion by King Henry VIII for his royal blood and lavish lifestyle, the Duke is arrested for high treason and execututed. Thornbury Castle passes to King Henry and the Crown.

1535 ~ King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn stay at Thornbury for ten days. Ten months later King Henry has his Queen beheaded on charges of treason and shortly afterwards marries his third wife Jane Seymour.

1554 ~ Queen Mary I returns the castle to the Duke of Buckingham's son Henry Stafford, as a token of gratitude for taking care of her morther, Catherine of Aragorn. The Stafford's however never return to Thornbury so it gradually falls into ruin.

1640 ~ Mary Stafford, the last in the lineage of the Stafford family, marries William Howard. The castle passes into the Howard family for the next three hundred years and who later in the 19th century renovate the castle under Henry Howard.