Interest hub

History and castles in Britain

Castles, ruins, Roman and prehistoric sites and historic houses in our guides.

Facts last checked 25 Oct 2026. Britlens is independent: see our editorial policy.

Penrhyn Castle (Castell Penrhyn), Conwy, Llandudno & the North Coast Castles
Penrhyn Castle (Castell Penrhyn), WalesPhoto: Llywelyn2000, CC BY-SA 4.0
Shandwick Stone, The Black Isle & Easter Ross
Shandwick Stone, The Scottish HighlandsPhoto: Wojsyl, CC BY-SA 3.0
Oldway Mansion, Torquay, Paignton & Brixham
Oldway Mansion, DevonPhoto: Kolforn, CC BY-SA 4.0

Places from the lists below; each photo links to the guide page that lists it.

Where to start

Reasoned from our data counts

These three destinations have the most matching places in our guides. That shows where our coverage is deepest for this interest, not an official ranking.

  • Wales

    32 matching places.

    Most in: Conwy, Llandudno & the North Coast Castles (8), Pembrokeshire Coast (St Davids & Tenby) (8).

  • Orkney

    27 matching places.

    Most in: North Isles: Rousay, Westray & beyond (11), Stromness & the West Mainland (10).

  • The Scottish Highlands

    22 matching places.

    Most in: Inverness & Loch Ness (8), Oban, Argyll & the Mull ferry (6).

For a hand-picked route, see the themed trip Castles (8 stops in Edinburgh, London, York, Oxford, Cambridge, Elsewhere in Britain). More: all themed trips.

Map

The interactive map needs JavaScript. The places are listed below.

The map shows the first 400 places; the lists below show all. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (opens in new tab).

All 411 places, by destination

Wales32places

Show 22 more in Wales

Orkney27places

Show 17 more in Orkney

The Scottish Highlands22places

Show 12 more in the Scottish Highlands

Devon21places

Show 11 more in Devon

Yorkshire16places

Show 6 more in Yorkshire

Salisbury & Stonehenge15places

Show 5 more in Salisbury & Stonehenge

The Outer Hebrides15places

Show 5 more in The Outer Hebrides

York15places

Show 5 more in York

Canterbury & Kent12places

Show 2 more in Canterbury & Kent

Northern Ireland12places

Show 2 more in Northern Ireland

St Andrews and Fife12places

Show 2 more in St Andrews and Fife

The Lake District12places

Show 2 more in the Lake District

The South Downs11places

Show 1 more in The South Downs

Cornwall10places

Edinburgh9places

Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire8places

Portsmouth and Southampton8places

Shetland8places

The Jurassic Coast8places

Anglesey7places

Isle of Arran7places

Bristol6places

Cardiff6places

London6places

Newcastle and Gateshead6places

Norfolk and the Broads6places

North Coast 5006places

Stirling and the Trossachs6places

Isle of Bute5places

Isles of Scilly5places

Lindisfarne (Holy Island)5places

Liverpool5places

Mull and Iona5places

Nottingham5places

Stratford & Warwickshire5places

Bath4places

The Peak District4places

Brighton & Hove3places

Glasgow3places

Gloucester3places

Lincoln3places

Lundy3places

Blackpool and the Lancashire coast2places

Coventry2places

Hereford2places

Leicester2places

Manchester2places

Oxford2places

The New Forest2places

Worcester2places

Birmingham1place

Cambridge1place

Islay and Jura1place

Leeds1place

Sheffield1place

Shrewsbury1place

The Cotswolds1place

Windsor1place

How we matched these places

We search the type label and name of every sight in our guides for this interest. Places we have not listed, or that our data labels differently, will be missing. Data checked 25 Oct 2026. Hearts save a place to My trip.

More

Sources

Official pages read on 25 Oct 2026. Rules, prices and opening times change: check the source before you rely on it. Counts and rankings on this page come from Britlens place data and are not official figures.

No external source is cited on this page; every figure is computed from our own data.