Walk where Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII have walked!

Thornbury Castle is the only Tudor Castle in England to be opened as a hotel. It is situated in Thornbury, South Gloucestershire.

In 1508, Edward Stafford 3rd Duke of Buckingham, obtained a license to build a castle on the site of the previous manor house. It was not designed to serve as a fortress and had only minimal defensive attributes.

Unfortunately, only part of the Duke’s grand plans for his new home were realised before his distant cousin, King Henry VIII, ordered his execution for alleged treason in 1521.

Following the Duke’s execution, King Henry VIII confiscated the Castle and in 1535 he and his Queen, Anne Boleyn, stayed at Thornbury for 10 days. Mary Tudor also spent time at the Castle as a princess and upon her death the Castle was returned to the descendants of the late Duke. Over the next two centuries the Castle lay unoccupied and fell into disrepair.

In 1824 the Howard family renovated the Castle and today it is a 26-room luxury hotel.

What is unbelievable is that visitor’s can choose to stay in the ‘Duke’s Bedchamber’ the exact room that Henry VIII and Queen Anne Boleyn slept in during their visit! The octagonal bedchamber is reached via the original circular stone staircase, the exact staircase that King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn would have ascended when retiring for the night.

Like an exercise in time travel, Thornbury Castle allows its visitors to walk in the footsteps of Kings and Queens, to lose themselves in the ancient yew-hedged gardens and enjoy the roaring fires.

Thornbury also boasts a stone flagged courtyard and the oldest Tudor gardens in England. If all this wasn’t sufficiently enticing, the Castle is situated behind St. Mary’s Church, dating back to the Norman period.

To learn about other sites with a major connection to Anne Boleyn visit my website ‘On the Tudor Trail’.

Thornbury Castle Photo Source: