Tamworth Castle
| Tamworth Castle | |
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| Tamworth, Staffordshire, United Kingdom | |
Tamworth Castle
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 Tamworth Castle
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| Coordinates | 52°37′58″N 1°41′48″W / 52.63278°N 1.69667°W |
| Site information | |
| Owner | Tamworth Borough Council |
| Open to the public |
Yes |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1080s |
| Built by | Robert le Despencer |
Tamworth Castle, a Grade I listed building, is a Norman castle, overlooking the confluence of the River Anker and the River Tame, in the town of Tamworth in Staffordshire, England. Before boundary changes in 1889, however, the castle site was originally on the edge of Warwickshire, while most of the town belonged to Stafforshire.
The site served as a residence of the Mercian kings in Anglo Saxon times, but fell into disuse during the Viking invasions. Refortified by the Normans and later enlarged, the building is today one of the best preserved motte-and-bailey castles in England.
When Tamworth became the chief residence of Offa, ruler of the expanding Mercian kingdom, he built a palace there from which various charters were issued sedens in palatio regali in Tamoworthige, the first dating from 781. Little trace of its former glory survived the Viking attack in 874 that left the town "for nearly forty years a mass of blackened ruins". Then in 913 Tamworth was rebuilt by Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, who newly fortified the town with an earthen burh. This, however, did little to defend the place when it was again sacked by the Danes in 943.
Over the following centuries there is no more mention of Tamworth as a royal residence, although a mint there struck coins for later Anglo-Saxon kings and eventually for the new Norman monarch, William the Conqueror. The place was then granted to William’s steward, Robert Despenser, who built a wooden castle during the 1080s in the typical Norman motte and bailey fashion. Occupying the south western part of the earlier burh, this was the forerunner of the present building.
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