Walks in England: Exploring Betchworth Castle

Betchworth Castle is a mostly crumbled ruin of a fortified medieval stone house with some tall, two-storey corners strengthened in the 18th century, in the north of the semi-rural parish of Brockham. It is built on a sandstone spur overlooking the western bank of the Mole in Surrey in England. The ruin is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and is in the lowest category of listed architecture, Grade II, 1.2 miles due east of Dorking railway station in Dorking and 4 miles due west of Reigate.

Marq English and I are off to investigate, but can Marq remember where it is?

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I film with a Gopro and Zyiun Smooth 3 Gimbal, Rode Lavalier and Zoom H4 recorder..

[selfportrait]

Thank you for making this! I'm doing my ancestry, and my 14th great-grandfather Sir Thomas Browne was borne in this castle in 1402 and hanged in 1460 during the war.

[rosieraver]

Wow Richard, I’m ploughing through the vlogs still three years behind, you must be one of hardest working you tubers for content (which is superb) the walks and exploring certainly show people there’s more to life than just wanting the new phone, keeping up with fashion etc, some of these places are fantastic and in your early vlogs in such a confined area, unbelievable

[denniskavanagh]

In the 1960s when I lived in Sutton I used to go out armed with my Ordnance Survey Maps looking for sites of Roman villas, Castles etc in Surrey and saw Betchworth castle marked. I like yourself had some problems actually finding the ruins, but I did eventually find my way there, but only walked around the outside of the railings. I also saw an artists impression of the Castle as it may have looked some time ago if viewed across the fields from the east. The painting was in a local pub, "The Barley Mow" situated on the A25 . The pub has now changed its name and on a recent visit I noticed that the painting had also gone from its place in the bar, perhaps its significance was not appreciated. Keep up the good work Richard.

[MrNas]

Real exploring! Thanks for revealing such a delightful place.

[andrewnorris]

How wonderful. I had heard of this castle but had never seen it until now. Thanks for climbing over the railings on our behalf!

[jotruby]

What a lovely ruin and another interesting walk Richard. This weather is ideal for exploring.

[ramibu]

Very interesting see. I am descended of the FitzAlans through my de Braose line so it was very nice to see!!!

[MrGreatplum]

Great video of the castle; another place near me I need to visit!
A gentleman bought the castle for £1 a few years ago - I wonder what his plans are...

[thomasmatthewson]

I walk around the lake and castle all the time

[johnbyrne]

A MESS FOR ALL SEASONS. (verse 1 of 8)
When the fly tipper came to a beautiful landscape
He made the most terrible mess
Now a washing machine haunts the rare meadow grasses
Their long frail stalks to compress
While in summer's cool stream neath the fullness of willow
Lies a carpet in Axminster red
But the gudgeon don't breed there as much as they used to
As most of the gudgeon are dead...JB16

[richardb.roberts]

Unstable subterranean cellars hence the railings lol. Mole Valley Council, which owned the castle, sold it in 2008 for £1 to local man Martin Higgins who has undertaken to conserve the structure and grounds, with financial support from English Heritage.