Sterborough Castle

Starborough Castle
Surrey, England
The castle manor in 2011
Starborough Castle
Coordinates	51°10′39″N 0°02′14″E / 51.1775°N 0.0372°E / 51.1775; 0.0372Coordinates: 51°10′39″N 0°02′14″E / 51.1775°N 0.0372°E / 51.1775; 0.0372
Grid reference	grid reference TQ425440
Site information
Condition	Inhabited
Site history
Materials	Sandstone

Starborough Castle, known historically as Sterborough Castle, is a Neo-Gothic garden house of dressed sandstone near the eastern boundary of Surrey, built in 1754 by Sir James Burrow. It occupies the north-eastern portion of an artificial island south of the River Eden, roughly 3 km to the south-west of Edenbridge. It is a Grade II* listed building and scheduled monument, and was built on the site of the first castle, a medieval fortified house built c. 1341.

The first Starborough Castle was the manor house of Reginald de Cobham, 1st Baron Cobham, and 1st Lord Cobham of Sterborough. On 18 October 1341 Cobham was granted licence by Edward III to crenelate the building, and the following year the building was fortified and became Starborough Castle. The castle was of a similar quadrangular style to Bodiam Castle, consisting of four towers and a gate, surrounded on all sides by a moat, with a central bridge crossing at the south.

After the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the Duke of Orleans was for a time held captive in the castle. The castle passed to Edward Burgh through his c. 1476 marriage to Anne Cobham, daughter of Sir Thomas, de jure 5th Baron Cobham of Sterborough.

On 4 July 1648 the castle was ordered to be destroyed by Order of Parliament under the rule of Oliver Cromwell. It was feared the castle would provide a base for Royalist Rebellion forces. Only the moat survives, although parts of the original castle were used to build the present building on the north-east corner of the site.