I do love a good ruin. I've been up here a few times now as its a lovely walk, and we never walk the way you are supposed to go and its amusing upsetting the rich toffs playing golf by walking across the course.
Some history:
"The fortified house of West Betchworth was traditionally home to the lords of that manor. Betchworth Castle was built in the 11th century by Robert Fitz Gilbert to be used as an earthwork fortress. In 1379 Sir John Fitzalan turned it into a stone castle. in the 15th century the castle was rebuilt by Sir Thomas Browne.
In 1798 the estate stretched from the zigzag at Box Hill to beyond Blackbrook. Sir John Soane was commissioned by the owner, Henry Peters to design alterations to the house and park; the stable block remains but converted into houses.
The house was bought by Henry Hope to add to his Deepdene estate in 1834, and much of the masonry was removed for work elsewhere. The Castle was allowed to collapse to create a picturesque ruin.
In 2008 Mole Valley Districy Council sold the ruin for £1.00 to a Betchworth resident Martin Higgins who is planning to breathe life back into the castle."
It is now 2016 and the only two noticeable bits of work that have been done are a large fence erected and the area cleared inside. Well - sort of cleared. Oh, and a small vegetable patch planted!
We got lucky this visit. Nobody was around and some repairs to the fence were being done. It was a bit of a tight squeeze though!
On with the pics...
One of my favourite things about this place is the evidence of explorers from many many years ago...
And now down into the vaults...
It's a shame about the junk left in there, but H did find something a bit unexpected...
Thanks for looking!
Some history:
"The fortified house of West Betchworth was traditionally home to the lords of that manor. Betchworth Castle was built in the 11th century by Robert Fitz Gilbert to be used as an earthwork fortress. In 1379 Sir John Fitzalan turned it into a stone castle. in the 15th century the castle was rebuilt by Sir Thomas Browne.
In 1798 the estate stretched from the zigzag at Box Hill to beyond Blackbrook. Sir John Soane was commissioned by the owner, Henry Peters to design alterations to the house and park; the stable block remains but converted into houses.
The house was bought by Henry Hope to add to his Deepdene estate in 1834, and much of the masonry was removed for work elsewhere. The Castle was allowed to collapse to create a picturesque ruin.
In 2008 Mole Valley Districy Council sold the ruin for £1.00 to a Betchworth resident Martin Higgins who is planning to breathe life back into the castle."
It is now 2016 and the only two noticeable bits of work that have been done are a large fence erected and the area cleared inside. Well - sort of cleared. Oh, and a small vegetable patch planted!
We got lucky this visit. Nobody was around and some repairs to the fence were being done. It was a bit of a tight squeeze though!
On with the pics...
One of my favourite things about this place is the evidence of explorers from many many years ago...
And now down into the vaults...
It's a shame about the junk left in there, but H did find something a bit unexpected...
Thanks for looking!
