The roll · The Castle Rolls
Free castles to visit in the UK.
Every castle on this roll that costs nothing to enter, in one place: 120 of them across all 4 nations, each with its Google rating, what its opening hours say, and what parking is actually like when you get there.
120 of the 432 castles on The Castle Rolls are free to enter: no ticket, no booking, no membership. There are 59 in England, 30 in Wales, 27 in Scotland and 4 in Northern Ireland. Most are ruins and earthworks in the care of English Heritage, Cadw and Historic Environment Scotland, which charge at their staffed castles and leave the unstaffed ones open to anyone who walks up. All 120 are listed further down this page.
Free castles are the part of the UK's castle stock that published lists handle worst. The heritage bodies each publish their own free sites and stop at their own estate, and the travel round-ups tend to run to eight or ten castles in one region. What follows is the whole open-access roll, ranked and then listed in full, with the two things that decide whether a free castle is a good afternoon or a wasted drive: when it is open, and where you leave the car.
The 12 best-reviewed free castles
Ranked by the review-weighted score used everywhere on this site, which pulls a castle's rating toward the national average of 4.50 until it has enough reviews to stand on its own. Only castles with at least 400 Google reviews are eligible, so a handful of very good small sites are held out of the ranking rather than a five-star average from nine visits leading it.
Castell Dinas Bran
4.8 across 1,349 Google reviews. Denbighshire, Wales. Open 24 hours. A free hilltop ruin above Llangollen, reduced now to fragments of wall - reviewers are candid there's little of the castle itself left, but say the climb and the views make it one of the best short walks in North Wales.
Dinefwr Castle
4.7 across 1,859 Google reviews. Carmarthenshire, Wales. Open daily 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Ffairfach station 1.1 miles away. A ruin on a wooded hilltop reached only on foot, through the deer park at Dinefwr - free to enter once you're there, though parking costs unless you're a National Trust or Cadw member.
Knaresborough Castle
4.6 across 4,880 Google reviews. North Yorkshire, England. Closed on some days. Knaresborough station 0.1 miles away. Ruins perched dramatically on a clifftop above the River Nidd, with a view over the town and its famous railway viaduct that reviewers consistently rate as the best in Knaresborough.
Ogmore Castle
4.7 across 1,533 Google reviews. Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. Open daily 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM. A Norman ruin beside the River Ogmore, better known now for the stepping stones across the river right next to it than for the castle itself, which is a modest survival dating back to the 1100s. Parking: there's a small car park right next to the site.
Dolbadarn Castle
4.7 across 1,284 Google reviews. Gwynedd, Wales. Open daily 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. A single round tower built by the Welsh princes of Gwynedd to guard the pass into Snowdonia, standing above Llyn Padarn on the edge of Llanberis. Parking: parking is close (about 100m) and reviewers say it's rarely crowded even midweek.
Llansteffan Castle
4.7 across 971 Google reviews. Carmarthenshire, Wales. Hours vary by day. Ferryside station 0.9 miles away. A free headland ruin above the Tywi estuary, reached by a short, steep climb from the coastal village below - well kept for an unstaffed site, with grounds reviewers describe as spectacular on a clear day.
Aberystwyth Castle
4.6 across 2,259 Google reviews. Ceredigion, Wales. Open 24 hours. Aberystwyth station 0.3 miles away. An Edwardian ruin standing in free seafront parkland above Aberystwyth's promenade, valued now more for its sea views than for what survives of the fabric itself.
Castell y Bere
4.8 across 548 Google reviews. Gwynedd, Wales. Built by the Welsh prince Llywelyn the Great rather than an English king, this is one of the few castles in Wales that was never Norman or Edwardian - a native stronghold on a rocky outcrop below Cadair Idris, reached by a narrow single-track road and a short climb. Parking: Parking is a small layby with room for only a handful of cars, and the road in is single-track, so allow time to reverse if you meet oncoming traffic.
Carnasserie Castle
4.8 across 462 Google reviews. Argyll and Bute, Scotland. Open 24 hours. A free 16th-century tower house ruin standing above Kilmartin Glen, one of Scotland's densest concentrations of prehistoric monuments, reached by a short but steep climb from the car park. Parking: there's decent parking at the bottom and, being free and unstaffed, no opening hours to work around.
Dryslwyn Castle
4.7 across 660 Google reviews. Carmarthenshire, Wales. Open 24 hours. A native Welsh-built castle on a rocky outcrop over the Tywi valley, free to visit via a short, steep climb from the picnic area car park below.
Grosmont Castle
4.7 across 605 Google reviews. Monmouthshire, Wales. One of the "Three Castles of Gwent" (with Skenfrith and White Castle) built to guard the routes between England and Wales - a modest ruin these days, free to enter and unstaffed, with a stepped climb up to an elevated viewing platform. Parking: parking is a pull-in just past the castle rather than at the site itself.
Hadleigh Castle
4.6 across 1,328 Google reviews. Essex, England. Leigh-on-Sea station 1.4 miles away. A 12th-century ruin on a hillside above the Thames Estuary, reduced now to fragments of towers and walls but set in grounds English Heritage keeps well maintained and free to wander.
One thing stands out in that list and it is worth saying plainly: Wales holds 30 of the 120 free castles overall but takes 9 of the top 12. Cadw keeps a large number of unstaffed medieval sites open at no charge, and several of them are hilltop ruins with the kind of view that earns a high rating regardless of whether anyone is selling tickets.
Free to enter is not always free to park
This is the cost that catches people out, and it is the reason the operator's own free-sites page is rarely enough to plan from. Of the 120 free castles here, 72 carry a note about parking, drawn from visitors' own reviews or from this site's research on the castle. They are not all reassuring, and that is the useful part:
Ogmore Castle - there's a small car park right next to the site.
Dolbadarn Castle - parking is close (about 100m) and reviewers say it's rarely crowded even midweek.
Castell y Bere - Parking is a small layby with room for only a handful of cars, and the road in is single-track, so allow time to reverse if you meet oncoming traffic.
The pattern across all 72 notes is consistent. A free castle run by a heritage body on its own land usually has a free car park. A free castle standing in a village, on a single-track lane or above a town usually does not, and the answer is a layby, a church car park, or parking in the settlement and walking in. A few sit next to a paid town car park where the parking costs more than admission would have. Where a note exists it is shown on that castle's own page, in the visitor's words rather than ours.
When they are actually open
Unstaffed does not mean unlocked at all hours. Google's opening data lists 49 of these 120 castles as open 24 hours, which is what you would expect of an unfenced earthwork or a ruin on open ground. Another 46 keep daytime hours, closing in the late afternoon or at dusk, and 7 are shown as shut on at least one day of the week, usually smaller sites with a seasonal or weekend-only pattern. The remaining 18 have no hours recorded at all. Those hours come from Google rather than from the operator, so treat them as a strong hint rather than a guarantee, particularly outside the summer.
Getting there without a car
Free sites skew rural, which is the real trade against the paid flagships sitting in city centres. 43 of the 120 are within 1.5 miles of a railway station, and a few of those are unusually convenient: the ruin in the public park opposite Penrith's platforms is free and open every day. The castles-by-train roll takes the wider view, and every castle page on this site shows its nearest station and the straight-line distance.
All 120 free castles, nation by nation
England - 59
Acton Burnell Castle
4.5 stars, 599 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Baconsthorpe Castle
4.5 stars, 560 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Berkhamsted Castle
4.5 stars, 940 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Berwick-upon-Tweed Castle and Ramparts
4.5 stars, 600 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Bolingbroke Castle
4.5 stars, 803 reviews
Open 24 hours
Bowes Castle
4.4 stars, 361 reviews
Bramber Castle
4.5 stars, 955 reviews
Open 24 hours
Bridgnorth Castle
4.6 stars, 1,164 reviews
Open daily 7:30 AM - 8:30 PM
Bristol Castle
4.2 stars, 64 reviews
Open 24 hours
Brough Castle
4.5 stars, 992 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Bungay Castle
4.1 stars, 346 reviews
Burgh Castle Roman Fort
4.5 stars, 916 reviews
Open 24 hours
Castle Acre Castle and Bailey Gate
4.7 stars, 251 reviews
Chester Castle: Agricola Tower and Castle Walls
4.3 stars, 377 reviews
Closed on some days
Christchurch Castle and Norman House
4.5 stars, 1,122 reviews
Open 24 hours
Clun Castle
4.4 stars, 950 reviews
Open 24 hours
Cromwell's Castle
4.7 stars, 68 reviews
Open 24 hours
Daw's Castle
2.2 stars, 10 reviews
Open 24 hours
Deddington Castle
3.6 stars, 135 reviews
Open daily 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Donnington Castle
4.4 stars, 1,595 reviews
Open daily 7:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Duffield Castle
3.3 stars, 222 reviews
Open 24 hours
Edlingham Castle
4.6 stars, 576 reviews
Open 24 hours
Egremont Castle
4.3 stars, 248 reviews
Open daily 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Etal Castle
4.3 stars, 1,106 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Eynsford Castle
4.3 stars, 633 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Hadleigh Castle
4.6 stars, 1,328 reviews
Hopton Castle
4.7 stars, 276 reviews
Open 24 hours
Kendal Castle
4.5 stars, 848 reviews
Open 24 hours
King Charles's Castle
4.7 stars, 45 reviews
Open 24 hours
Knaresborough Castle
4.6 stars, 4,880 reviews
Closed on some days
Longtown Castle
4.3 stars, 328 reviews
Open 24 hours
Ludgershall Castle and Cross
4.3 stars, 457 reviews
Open 24 hours
Lydford Castle and Saxon Town
4.4 stars, 248 reviews
Open daily 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Marisco Castle
4.5 stars, 2 reviews
Moreton Corbet Castle
4.6 stars, 790 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Newark Castle
4.5 stars, 2,392 reviews
Norham Castle
4.5 stars, 607 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Odiham Castle
4.4 stars, 775 reviews
Open 24 hours
Okehampton Castle
4.4 stars, 973 reviews
Closed on some days
Pendragon Castle
4.4 stars, 237 reviews
Penrith Castle
4.3 stars, 758 reviews
Open daily 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Piel Castle
4.8 stars, 213 reviews
Open daily 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Pontefract Castle
4.5 stars, 2,001 reviews
Hours vary by day
Prudhoe Castle
4.2 stars, 653 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Rayleigh Mount
4.5 stars, 121 reviews
Open daily 7:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Richard's Castle
4.3 stars, 52 reviews
Open 24 hours
Sandal Castle
4.5 stars, 2,603 reviews
Open 24 hours
Sherborne Old Castle
4.4 stars, 521 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Skipsea Castle
3.6 stars, 151 reviews
Open 24 hours
Spofforth Castle
4.5 stars, 850 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
St Catherine's Castle
4.4 stars, 549 reviews
Open 24 hours
Stafford Castle
4.5 stars, 1,552 reviews
Closed on some days
Sutton Valence Castle
4.3 stars, 192 reviews
Open 24 hours
Wallingford Castle
4.4 stars, 395 reviews
Weeting Castle
4.2 stars, 278 reviews
Open daily 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Whitstable Castle & Gardens
4.4 stars, 2,669 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Whittington Castle
4.6 stars, 641 reviews
Closed on some days
Wigmore Castle
4.3 stars, 176 reviews
Wolvesey Castle (Old Bishop's Palace)
4.4 stars, 1,049 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Northern Ireland - 4
Scotland - 27
Balvaird Castle
4.5 stars, 257 reviews
Open 24 hours
Burleigh Castle
4.2 stars, 159 reviews
Open 24 hours
Carnasserie Castle
4.8 stars, 462 reviews
Open 24 hours
Carsluith Castle
4.3 stars, 179 reviews
Castle Sween
4.6 stars, 184 reviews
Open 24 hours
Castle of Old Wick
4.4 stars, 564 reviews
Open 24 hours
Crookston Castle
4.4 stars, 415 reviews
Open daily 9:30 AM - 5:30 PM
Cubbie Roo's Castle
4.6 stars, 8 reviews
Dalquharran Castle
4.6 stars, 282 reviews
Open 24 hours
Drumcoltran Tower
4.5 stars, 73 reviews
Open daily 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Duffus Castle
4.6 stars, 1,227 reviews
Open 24 hours
Dunyvaig Castle
4.5 stars, 56 reviews
Open 24 hours
Earl's Palace, Birsay
4.5 stars, 693 reviews
Open 24 hours
Greenknowe Tower
4.5 stars, 94 reviews
Open 24 hours
Hailes Castle
4.4 stars, 383 reviews
Loch Doon Castle
4.5 stars, 509 reviews
Lochmaben Castle
4 stars, 223 reviews
Open 24 hours
Lochranza Castle
4.5 stars, 667 reviews
Open 24 hours
Morton Castle
4.5 stars, 299 reviews
Open 24 hours
Muness Castle
4.6 stars, 185 reviews
Open 24 hours
Noltland Castle
4.6 stars, 94 reviews
Open daily 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Orchardton Tower
4.3 stars, 175 reviews
Open 24 hours
Ravenscraig Castle
4.3 stars, 775 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Roxburgh Castle
4.3 stars, 38 reviews
Open 24 hours
Scalloway Castle
4.3 stars, 208 reviews
Skipness Castle and Chapel
4.7 stars, 372 reviews
Open 24 hours
Strome Castle
4.4 stars, 334 reviews
Open 24 hours
Wales - 30
Abergavenny Castle & Museum
4.5 stars, 849 reviews
Closed on some days
Aberystwyth Castle
4.6 stars, 2,259 reviews
Open 24 hours
Bronllys Castle
4.4 stars, 241 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Caergwrle Castle
4.4 stars, 210 reviews
Open 24 hours
Castell Dinas Bran
4.8 stars, 1,349 reviews
Open 24 hours
Castell y Bere
4.8 stars, 548 reviews
Cilgerran Castle
4.4 stars, 1,178 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Coity Castle
4.6 stars, 561 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Dinefwr Castle
4.7 stars, 1,859 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Dolbadarn Castle
4.7 stars, 1,284 reviews
Open daily 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Dolforwyn Castle
4.6 stars, 320 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Dolwyddelan Castle
4.3 stars, 398 reviews
Closed on some days
Dryslwyn Castle
4.7 stars, 660 reviews
Open 24 hours
Ewloe Castle
4.6 stars, 872 reviews
Open 24 hours
Flint Castle
4.6 stars, 1,320 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Grosmont Castle
4.7 stars, 605 reviews
Haverfordwest Castle
Pembrokeshire
Llansteffan Castle
4.7 stars, 971 reviews
Hours vary by day
Llawhaden Castle
4.6 stars, 455 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Loughor Castle
4 stars, 231 reviews
Open 24 hours
Monmouth Castle
4 stars, 434 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Montgomery Castle
4.6 stars, 894 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Newcastle (Bridgend) Castle
4.3 stars, 199 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Ogmore Castle
4.7 stars, 1,533 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Old Beaupre Castle
4.3 stars, 142 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Skenfrith Castle
4.6 stars, 1,038 reviews
Open 24 hours
St Quentin's Castle (Llanblethian)
4.3 stars, 247 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Swansea Castle
4 stars, 1,030 reviews
Open 24 hours
White Castle
4.6 stars, 989 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Wiston Castle
4.4 stars, 111 reviews
Open daily 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Where this list comes from
A castle is on this page because the roll records it as open-access: free to enter, with no ticket and no booking. The count, the nation split, the ranking, the averages and every number in the questions below are computed from the roll each time the site is built, so they move when the roll does. Parking notes are pulled from what visitors said in Google reviews or from this site's own research on that castle, never written for this page, and opening hours come from Google Places.
Check before you travel
Free today is not free forever, and unstaffed sites are the ones most likely to close at short notice for repair, unsafe masonry or a change of tenancy. Opening hours are third-party data and can lag a seasonal change. Parking arrangements in villages change more often than anything else on this page. Each entry links to the castle's own page here, which carries the operator's link, so check that before you build a day around any of it.
Questions people ask
How many castles in the UK are free to visit?
120 of the 432 castles on The Castle Rolls are free open-access sites: no ticket, no booking and no membership needed. The split is 59 in England, 30 in Wales, 27 in Scotland and 4 in Northern Ireland. Most are ruins in the care of English Heritage, Cadw and Historic Environment Scotland, which charge at their staffed castles and leave the unstaffed ones open.
Are free castles worth visiting?
The best-reviewed ones compare well with castles charging full admission. Across the 119 free castles with a Google rating, the average is 4.4 from 79,777 reviews between them, and the top of this page is led by Castell Dinas Bran at 4.8 stars from 1,349. What you give up is facilities rather than fabric: free sites are usually unstaffed, with no shop, no cafe and often no toilets.
Is parking free at free castles?
Not always, and it is the most common hidden cost. 72 of the 120 free castles here carry a note about parking from visitors or from the site's own research, and they range from a free car park with toilets to a layby with room for three cars, a pay-and-display in the nearest town, or no parking at the site at all. Each entry shows what is on file.
Can you visit free castles at any time of day?
Often, but not always. Google's opening data lists 49 of these castles as open 24 hours, which fits the unfenced ruins and earthworks. Another 46 keep daytime hours, 7 are shown as shut on at least one day of the week, and 18 have no hours on file at all. Hours can also change with the season, so check the operator's own page before a long drive.
Do you need a car to reach free castles?
It helps, because free sites skew rural. 43 of the 120 are within 1.5 miles of a railway station, which is the walkable end of the list, and the castles-by-train roll covers the wider picture. The remote ruins are the ones where a car makes the difference.