Sir Roger Fiennes, Treasurer of the Household of Henry VI, began Herstmonceux Castle in 1441, on the site of an older manor house, at a cost of 3,800 pounds. His son Lord Dacre continued the work after Roger's death in 1449. The article names no architect for the original building. The bricks were made from local clay by builders from Flanders.
The castle is a brick-built medieval fortified house, described as one of England's oldest significant brick buildings. The interior was demolished in 1776 and 1777, leaving the exterior walls standing. Sir Paul Latham completed a restoration in the early 1930s, with Walter Godfrey as architect, combining the four internal courtyards into one.
The Admiralty bought the castle in 1946 for the Royal Observatory. Queen's University at Kingston received it as a gift in 1993. It is Grade I listed and a scheduled monument.
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