The 90-foot high Keep of the 12th Century Royal Castle built by Henry II, Orford, East Anglia, UK

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Henry II built Orford Castle between 1163-1175 in an attempt to counter challenges to the authority of the crown and as a coastal Castle is unique in that it is the earliest British castle for which records of the construction exist. The Castle is built to a keep and bailey plan; a strong polygonal central keep surrounded by a curtain wall. It is one of the earliest examples of the use of flanking towers built into the , the outer curtain wall has largely disappeared, leaving only traces of the outer defences and a deep trench surrounding the keep. The central keep, with its three strong towers is well preserved and stands 90 feet tall within the ruins of the outer Castle also houses Orford museum and the view of Orford Ness from the top of the Keep is well worth the climb.

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Size: 3744px × 5616px
Location: Castle Green, Orford, Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, UK
Photo credit: © PHOTOBYTE / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 12th, anglia, canon, castle, century, defence, east, england, henry, historic, history, ii, kingdom, monument, museum, orford, polygonal, protect, royal, suffolk, torch, tourist, tower, travel, united, weapon, woodbridge