William the Conqueror founded the castle in 1067 on the site of a Roman rampart, and the Norman kings governed from it for over a century. Henry II built a stone keep, and Henry III built the Great Hall from 1222 to 1235. The article names no architect. The hall is a double cube, 110 feet (33.5 m) long and 55 feet (16.8 m) wide and high, of flint with stone dressings. The windows were originally lower, under a roof with dormers.
A fire in 1302 destroyed the royal apartments. Parliamentarians took the castle in 1646 and Cromwell ordered it demolished in 1649. Only the hall survives.
Hampshire County Council owns it, and it is a Grade I listed museum. The Round Table hangs inside, dated to 1275 by dendrochronology.
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