Astley Castle - an early colour postcard	Astley Castle in the 1930s	Astley Castle. Early postcard	Stone archway entrance to Astley Castle. Part of castle and greenhouse roof. 1900s*	Early postcard of Astley Castle	Astley Castle. 1920s*
Watercolour of part of Astley Castle ruin. 1800s*	Astley Castle. 1800s*	Astley Castle, copper-plate engraving by Pye after Neale (1814)
Astley Castle in 1978, after the fire that reduced it to a ruin**	A bizarre 'black magic' doll found in an upstairs room of the Castle following the fire. Later attributed to a Hallowe'en party**	Astley Castle, March 2007***	Astley Castle, March 2007***	Astley Castle, March 2007***	Astley Castle, March 2007***
Astley Castle, March 2007***	Astley Castle, March 2007***	Astley Castle. Scale model of the Castle made by Landmark Trust***	Early postcard of Astley Church	Interior of Astley Church, as featured in Graphic Illustrated, 1881

Astley Castle near Nuneaton was (and still is despite being a ruin) a very historic building dating back to the 1200s. The land came into possession of Phillip de Astley in the thirteenth century and he built the castle.

The Castle was home for a time to Lady Jane Grey, and it is said to be haunted by the ghost of her father Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk (who held the lands of Weddington - see Castle History for the full story of the Grey family in the region).

Henry Grey took part in the revolt against Queen Mary. When the revolt failed, Henry Grey went into hiding at Astley Castle but was captured in 1554 and beheaded. Bizarrely, in 1849, his head was discovered in a small church near the Tower of London, where it had been preserved in a glass case. His red beard was still visible, hanging from the skull.

The hamlet of Astley derives its name from Alsi, a Saxon nobleman slain by the Normans in 1066, whose land was forfeited to the Norman Earls of Leicester who passed it on in family descent to the Earls of Warwick.

The interior of the castle was destroyed by fire on 3 April 1978 in mysterious circumstances. You can read an account of the fire by clicking here. The shell has stood ever since, but sadly there seem to be no plans to rebuild it. The building has been derelict since the fire and is now little more than a shell with walls in a very parlous state, with virtually all of the interior destroyed or in irreparable condition as a result of the fire, subsequent vandalism, and decay.  In 1998 English Heritage and Heritage Lottery Fund offered grants for a scheme of consolidation and partial conversion to holiday accommodation with the Landmark Trust, but the scheme fell through because of cost. The Trust expressed renewed interest in a curtailed scheme in 2005, but nothing came forward until the detailed proposals that you can access at the links above.

Click here for a 2006 Report by Nuneaton & Warwickshire Council regarding Buildings at Risk in the County, which acknowledges that the Castle is a Priority Category A building (at extreme risk) and that "Realistically it seems that the remnants of the castle will effectively have to be managed as a ruin". Although the Stable block is identified as being "capable of conversion to a beneficial use...[despite]  suffering from slow decay, and,... vandalism and arson".

Photos marked * are © Warwickshire County Council, 2003

** Photograph taken by Les Fannon, Nuneaton Evening Tribune photographer

*** Photographs courtesy of  The Landmark Trust

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