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aerial photograph of Kenilworth Castle Warwickshire, England UK. The castle started off as a Norman Great Tower built around 1120 by Geoffrey de Clinton who was Lord Chamberlain and treasurer to Henry I. The castle was then enlarged and altered throughout the medieval period. The castle was once surrounded by a lake called the Great Mere created under the reign of King John by damming adjacent brooks. this created one of England's most sophisticated water defenses. The lake has since been drained.
The castle was besieged in 1266 during the Second Barons' War (1263Ð67). The siege lasted 6 months which is said to be the longest siege in English History. The castle was occupied by Simon de Montfort and attacked by Henry III and his son Picnce Edward , later Edward I, using trebuchets , siege towers and an amphibious assault using barges. The King was unable to take the castle by force and eventually a peace deal was agreed with de Montford.
Edward II spent Christmas 1323 at Kenilworth and returned there under rather less favorable conditions when he was held prisoner here after being deposed. Edward resigned his crown in the great hall of the castle on 21 January 1326.
In the 16th century Kenilworth was owned by Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester and favorite of Elizebeth I who turned the castle from a military structure into a Renaissance palace.
During the English Civil war the castle was initially held by the Royalists who subsequently abandoned it , after which it was occupied by the Parliamentarians. At the end of the war Parliament ordered that the castle be slighted. The gatehouse was used as a house and the castle became a farm. By the 18th century the castle became a tourist attraction and today it is open to the public and run by English Heritage.
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