Walk in the footsteps of Kings and Queens
Thornbury Castle
Thornbury 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.
Duke's Bedchamber Thornbury Castle
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. A church that King Henry VIII and Queen Anne Boleyn are likely to have worshipped in during their 10 day stay at the castle.
St. Mary's Church Thornbury
For more information on this breathtaking Tudor Castle visit:
This wlil definitely be on my list of things to see when I get to England–someday!
Thanks!
It is well worth it Anne! 🙂
I wanna go, I wanna go! It’s gorgeous!
Hi,
We were fortunate enough to stay in the bed chamber of King Henry VIII when we were there. We wandered the gardens below and indeed climbed the circular staircase and was given a large 15 th century key to open the door. We have plenty of photos if any one is interested.
Katie & Ed
I’m interested!! I would love to see your photos, you lucky people you… 🙂
Hi Katie & Ed:
Would love to see your photos. We were fortunate as well to have stayed at Thornbury Castle on our visit to the UK two years ago. We stayed in another part of the castle though – the Buckingham – as I recall. I don’t know if you believe in such things, but we actually had a ghostly encounter.
Tom
Hello Tom, I would love to hear more about your ghostly encounter. Please share! Natalie
Me too!!! 🙂
It must have been so wonderful to experience this history in this castle, and be in the room where these two characters of history are so well known world wide for hundreds of years. I wondered were you a little nervous staying in that room considering these two characters and how it all ended for them. He was a sociopath tyrant, and he listened to foolish talk so long ago, and had Anne killed for no reason, so sad! I guess we all know that Henry the VIII had problems with women big time! LOL The only wonderful thing that came from them was their daughter Elizabeth who went on to rule England for a very long time, and ruled England greatly as a woman alone! Henry was so hell bent on having a male heir his entire life….and yet his daughter that he never really paid any attention to became one of England’s greatest rulers ever. Queen Elizabeth did her mother proud and ruled even better than her father ever could. I think we all wish that this could be some how whispered in Henry’s ear that it was his daughter Elizabeth who went on to rule England for the longest time over any Kings and Queens up until that point, where ever Henry ended up!!! LOL P.S. I think we all know where Henry the VIII ended up! LOL
The castle was renovated and there are no original doors so the key is an elaborate 19C design like lots of things in the castle. It’s a shame it’s not been better looked after.
We are in the Dukes bed chamber at this very minute. How cool is that. It is fantastic to think Henry and Anne slept in this room.
How wonderful!
We stayed here in the castle in 1995. We were in the Room at night and I had problms sleeping and kept my husband awake because of the weird feeling in the room. The next night he told me I had to sleep an not disturb again. In a fit of temper I said “May the church bells ring and keep you awake” He just laughed. He didnt laugh when at 3am in the morning the bells started to ring. He was the one that didnt sleep for the rest of the night. We asked the next morning if there were ghosts and the lady must smiled.