A historian has devoted two decades to researching and recording the castles of Scotland.

Now Simon Forder, aka The Castle Guy, is turning his attention to England's northern counties with Cumberland first on the list, creating a user-friendly online guide for the public.

His aim is to map out all things castle-related across the UK, including details regarding their brief history, current state, ownership, and public accessibility.

“One of the principle challenges that any castle historian faces is ‘what is a castle’? Simon said. 

“Generally speaking, it’s a fortified residence of a Lord.

"The way I think of it, it has to be a building or a structure, it also has to serve a defensible purpose but also an administrable purpose. They were generally places where taxes were rendered,” he said. 

The guide takes into account the varying roles each castle played, from manor houses and hall houses to fortified residences.

An inventory for the four northern counties has been completed, boasting a total of 351 castles that are included within his guide. 

Cumberland has 105, Westmorland 57, Northumberland 152, and Durham 37.

He highlighted that Northumberland was home to a number of powerful nobles, thereby a more economically developed region that would have had more resources to construct large castle structures.

“When we’re talking about Cumberland, and the border area generally, anything that was founded after 1603 when King James VI of Scotland became James I of England, the fortification became irrelevant.

"I categorise it as not being a castle because it didn’t have a proper military defensive aspect.

"The concentration of castles on the border is much higher than anywhere else because of cross-border raiding.

"Across the next bit of Lancashire, there are far fewer castles because the number of times the Scots managed to come down and raid that far was very small.

"It was more of a display of lordship than the military side of things – if you didn’t need to, you probably wouldn’t bother unless it was to impress your neighbours.

“If you look at the density of castle on the Anglo-Welsh border, it’s ludicrous," he said. 

His final count includes a variety of structures, accumulating seven mottes, 30 earth and timber castles, 30 hall houses, 192 tower houses, one great tower, 84 castles, one mansion, three palaces, and three bastles.

The Furness peninsular has not been included as that was historically part of Lancashire.

To view Simon's interactive map, visit https://thecastleguide.co.uk/interactive-map/