Ludlow Castle

, the castle was built on a rocky promontory.]] Ludlow Castle was probably founded by Walter de Lacy around 1075. Walter had arrived in England in 1066 as part of William fitzOsbern's household during the Norman Conquest of England. FitzOsbern was made the Earl of Hereford and tasked with settling the area; at the same time, several castles were founded in the west of the county, securing its border with Wales. Walter de Lacy was the earl's second in command, and was rewarded with 163 manors spread across seven counties, with 91 in Herefordshire alone.

Walter began building a castle within the manor of Stanton Lacy; the fortification was originally called Dinham Castle, before it acquired its later name of Ludlow. Ludlow was the most important of Walter's castles: as well as being at the heart of his new estates, the site also lay at a strategic crossroads over the River Teme, on a strong defensive promontory. Walter died in a construction accident at Hereford in 1085 and was succeeded by his son, Roger de Lacy.

The castle's Norman stone fortifications were added possibly as early as the 1080s onwards, and were finished before 1115, based around what is now the inner bailey of the castle, forming a stone version of a ringwork. It had four towers and a gatehouse tower along the walls, with a ditch dug out of the rock along two sides, the excavated stone being reused for the building works, and would have been one of the first masonry castles in England. With its circular design and grand entrance tower, it has been likened to the earlier Anglo-Saxon burgheat designs.