Conisbrough Castle with the family
Conisbrough Castle near Doncaster offers 12th century history, a photo-friendly keep and ruins that children love exploring.
Why visit Conisbrough Castle?
Conisbrough Castle is a mostly-ruined 12th century Norman castle in the South Yorkshire town of Conisbrough. The centrepiece of this English Heritage property, which inspired Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe, is the restored five level limestone keep.
The keep offers marvellous views over the surrounding countryside from the top, plus displays and video projections about the castle’s history inside.
This is mostly about the 12th century inhabitants of the castle – Lord Hamelin – a half-brother of King Henry II – and Lady Isabel de Warrene.
The animated projections show the preparations made to travel to the castle from France, the staff required to maintain the property and Hamelin’s rather pathetic need to ingratiate himself with the king.
It’s all mildly entertaining and educational, but inessential. The real reason you visit Conisbrough Castle is that it looks really cool.
Conisbrough Castle with kids
Conisbrough Castle is well set up for children. At the visitor centre, they can pick up activity sheets which get them finding things such as wells and fireplaces within the castle grounds.
There’s also something inherently fun about clambering up the old stone staircases of a castle, while the projected videos manage to hold the attention for at least a few minutes.
Back at the visitor centre, there’s an activity room. Here, children can try on medieval costumes, do puzzles and make their own castles using wooden blocks.
Conisbrough Castle review: The best bit
The keep of Conisbrough Castle may be fairly well restored, but the ruins of the grounds end up being more engaging. They’re ideal for running around, partially clambering, and wondering what used to be there. Expect to hear a lot of “pretend you were”-style yabbering from children prone to imaginative play.
Infants, juniors or secondary?
Junior school age children are probably best suited to Conisbrough Castle. Teens will probably find it a bit dull, and a lot will go over the heads of younger children.
Conisbrough Castle entry prices
The entry prices for Conisbrough Castle are needlessly confusing, with a lot depending on whether you book in advance and give a Gift Aid donation.
On the day, however, adult tickets to Conisbrough Castle cost £8.10 and child tickets cost £4.50. Perhaps more of use are the family tickets – £20.70 for two adults and up to three children, or £12.60 for one adult and up to three children.
These prices are without Gift Aid, and booking online in advance can save you 15%.
Prices were last checked and updated on 30 September 2024.
Full day, half day or a couple of hours?
Depending on the attention spans of your children, a visit to Conisbrough Castle should last a couple of hours, but can plausibly be stretched to half a day.
Attractions near Conisborough Castle
Relatively nearby attractions that can be combined with a visit to Conisbrough Castle include:
- Cusworth Hall Museum and Park in Doncaster.
- Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster.
- MAGNA Science Adventure Centre in Rotherham.
Nearby cities
The closest city to Conisbrough Castle is Doncaster. Other cities within a 90 minute drive of Conisbrough Castle include Derby, Nottingham, Sheffield, Wakefield, York, Leeds, Bradford, Hull and Lincoln.
Is it open on Mondays?
Yes – Conisbrough Castle is usually open on Mondays. That makes it viable as an option for most teacher training days.
More information
For more information, visit the Conisbrough Castle section of the English Heritage website.
