Stokesay Castle, Shropshire, England. Another historic property I used to manage.

Stokesay Castle is quite simply the finest and best preserved fortified medieval manor house in England. Set in peaceful countryside near the Welsh border, the castle, timber-framed gatehouse and parish church form an unforgettably picturesque group.

Lawrence of Ludlow, a wealthy local wool-merchant bought the property in 1281, when the long Anglo-Welsh wars were ending. So it was safe to raise here one of the first fortified manor houses in England, ‘builded like a castle’ for effect but lit by large domestic-style windows. Extensive recent drendrochronology (tree-ring) dating confirms that he had completed virtually all of the still surviving house by 1291, it has scarcely been altered since. It is open to the public and managed by English Heritage.