Last reviewed 16 October 2026 · A three-minute read · 356 BC–2013
Lincoln Castle on Drury Lane began in 1068, when William the Conqueror ordered it raised over an earlier Roman legionary fortress. Across nearly a thousand years it has held sieges, a county prison, and a working courthouse, and now keeps one of four surviving originals of the 1215 Magna Carta.
The short answer
Lincoln Castle is a Norman fortress on Drury Lane in Lincoln, built from 1068 on the orders of William the Conqueror over an earlier Roman legionary fortress. It has held two medieval battles, a county prison, a working courthouse, and now houses one of four surviving originals of the 1215 Magna Carta.
Lincoln Cathedral Lincoln Cathedral taken from the walls of Lincoln Castle — 2003 · Geoff Cooper · CC BY-SA 2.0
1068 to 1141
William tears down 166 houses to raise two mottes
Lincoln Castle is a Norman fortress in the middle of Lincoln, now run as a museum and heritage site by Lincolnshire County Council. William the Conqueror ordered it built in 1068, two years after he beat Harold Godwinson at Hastings. He needed to control the north, and Lincoln sat where the old Roman roads crossed the River Witham. His builders tore down 166 houses to clear the hilltop. They raised the castle on the bones of a Roman walled fortress, reusing its old defenses. The result is unusual. Lincoln Castle has two mottes, mounds of earth topped with towers. Only one other English castle, at Lewes, was built the same way.
The first keep was wood. Fire destroyed it in 1113, and it was rebuilt in stone. Around 1110, Lucy de Tailebois, sheriff of Lincoln, built a stone stronghold on the southwestern motte. It later became known as the Lucy Tower, though the tower standing today was finished after her death, between 1129 and 1138.
The castle was fought over almost from the start. In 1141, armies loyal to King Stephen and Empress Matilda clashed here in the First Battle of Lincoln, during a civil war over who should rule England. King Henry II visited more peacefully decades later, in the 1170s and 1180s. Archaeologists later found a feasting midden nearby, a rubbish pit with over 5,000 animal and fish bones, evidence of large royal banquets held for his court.
medieval period
The castle doubles as royal prison, mint and court
Through the Middle Ages, the castle did double duty as a court and a prison. The Earl of Warwick was held here briefly in the 12th century for rebelling against Henry II. In 1301, Lincoln's prison held the first woman in England sentenced to death by burning. The castle also served for a time as a royal mint, striking coins for the crown.
1541 to 1644
A king visits, then a Royalist garrison falls
Henry VIII visited in 1541, traveling north with his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, as part of a royal progress toward York. A century later, during the English Civil War, Parliamentarian forces besieged the castle and defeated its Royalist garrison in 1644. Captured Royalist soldiers were held there afterward as prisoners.
1787 to 1878
A Victorian prison replaces the castle's military role
By the late 1700s the castle's military days were long over, and it settled into a harsher role as a county prison. In 1787, a three-storey stone prison building went up inside the walls, built on the isolation principles of the era's penal reformers, keeping inmates apart from one another. In 1822, John Merryweather extended the Observatory Tower. Historians say it was officially to stop escapes, though some credit it to his own passion for astronomy. In 1826, a Gothic Revival courthouse opened inside the walls for the Lincolnshire Assizes. It still functions today as Lincoln Crown Court, where criminal trials are heard. The Victorian prison closed in 1878, ending the castle's use as a place of punishment.
2010 to 2015
Digs reveal Roman walls and pre-Norman burials
A Roman wall and a later revetment wall came up during excavations at Castle Moat House, just beside Drury Lane on the castle's south side, in 2010, confirming the castle had been built directly over the old legionary defenses. Digs ahead of a major restoration, called Lincoln Castle Revealed, uncovered a stone sarcophagus and Anglo-Scandinavian burials, evidence of settlement on the hill before the Normans ever arrived. The £22 million project, finished in 2015, built a fireproof underground vault with a curved cinema screen to house Magna Carta, and moved the document there from Lincoln Cathedral. A new wall walk, running a third of a mile around the battlements, opened the same year.
now
A Crown Court still sits inside the medieval walls
Lincoln Castle today is owned by Lincolnshire County Council and run as a museum, while the 1826 courthouse continues to hear real criminal trials. A record of a theater built on Drury Lane in 1732 survives from before the Theatre Royal replaced it decades later, a trace of the street outside the walls that has mostly vanished.
Magna Carta rests in its underground vault inside the walls William the Conqueror raised nearly a thousand years earlier.
Read the ground you are standing on
Every person, building and event in this story opens into its own dig in the app — and Strata will dig the ground under your feet instead, wherever that is, in about a minute, with every source shown.
Sourced records, high and medium confidence. Era background is marked as such.
Ancient
356 BC to AD 233
A radiocarbon sample taken 182 meters away dated human activity on this ground to between 356 BC and AD 233, the oldest dated material found near this spot.
In February 1141, Ranulf de Gernon seized the castle by trickery, sending wives to visit the constable's wife before storming in with knights, sparking the first Battle of Lincoln.
The 1215 Magna Carta was sent to Lincoln to be read at the sheriff's court and has remained in the castle's keeping ever since, one of only four originals to survive.
On 20 May 1217, royalist crossbowmen under Falkes de Breauté fought through the castle's postern gate against the forces of the future Louis VIII of France, deciding the First Barons' War in England's favor.
A theater built on Drury Lane in 1732 was soon overshadowed by the new Theatre Royal across town in 1764; a vaulted cellar found in a 2002 dig may be its last trace.
Excavations ahead of a 2010s restoration uncovered a stone sarcophagus and Anglo-Scandinavian burials inside the castle grounds, evidence of settlement before the Normans arrived.
A Roman legionary fortress stood on the same ground; excavations in 2010 at Castle Moat House, next to Drury Lane, uncovered its rampart and defenses beneath later layers. Human activity on the ground has also been dated as far back as 356 BC.
What happened at Lincoln Castle in 1141?
In February 1141, Ranulf de Gernon seized the castle by trickery, sending wives to visit the constable's wife before storming in with knights, sparking the First Battle of Lincoln between forces loyal to King Stephen and Empress Matilda.
Why does Lincoln Castle have two mottes?
William the Conqueror's builders raised the castle with two mounds topped by towers when it was built from 1068, an arrangement shared with only one other English castle, at Lewes.
Is Magna Carta still kept at Lincoln Castle?
Yes. The 1215 Magna Carta has remained in the castle's keeping since it was sent to Lincoln to be read at the sheriff's court, and since 2015 it has been housed in a purpose-built underground vault moved from Lincoln Cathedral.
Is Lincoln Castle still used as a court today?
Yes. The Gothic Revival courthouse that opened inside the walls in 1826 for the Lincolnshire Assizes still functions as Lincoln Crown Court, hearing criminal trials.
Where this came from
1
Wikipedia — William the Conqueror tears down 166 houses to build this castle
