Egremont Castle

Egremont Castle occupies a prominent hilltop above the River Ehen in Cumbria, originally built on a Danish fort site after William II's 1092 conquest of Cumberland. William Meschin founded the present castle between 1120 and 1135 as an impressive motte-and-bailey fortress with substantial ditch defences, three-storey gatehouse equipped with drawbridge and portcullis, and distinctive herringbone curtain wall. During the Anglo-Scottish wars, Robert Bruce sacked the castle twice, after which it was deliberately slighted to prevent reoccupation. Beyond its medieval military significance, Egremont gained cultural renown for its ancient Crab Fair, said to inspire William Wordsworth's poem 'The Horn of Egremont Castle.'