Geograph - photograph every grid square

The site of a manor house in the 12th century, when owned by a line of Zouch descendants which give the town its name, the castle was greatly enlarged in the 1470s by William, Lord Hastings, on whom Edward IV bestowed it shortly before.

The largest part was the Hastings Tower, seen here to the right, some 90 feet in height and was originally not far off square.

A prolonged siege during 1645 led to the castle's surrender the following year. Part of the surrender terms included the demolition of the castle, although it was a few years before the major buildings were destroyed.