Lancaster Castle ()

Lancaster Castle was a functioning prison until 2011 and today you can tour the interior areas on a guided tour several times a day. Today, there are no prisoners, but it is a functioning government building where trials take place, so you can see some really cool behind-the-scenes places.

Blue jail doors behind bars ()

The castle dates back almost 1000 years and one of the most fascinating parts was learning about its historical involvement with witch trials. In 1612, ten people were convicted of witchcraft, among them, two men and a woman in her eighties for a variety of crimes such as “causing madness,” “laming,” and “simple witchcraft.”

To see the interior of the castle, you must sign up for a guided tour. As previously mentioned, this is a functioning government building, so there are certain places you cannot enter, and you can only take pictures in the former jail cells and the witch trial exhibition. However, you get to sit in the room where trials still take place as well as the room where juries determine people’s fates. Tours take place daily, but there are holiday closures so check the website to ensure the castle is open. You can tour the castle Monday to Friday at 10:30 a.m., 12:15 p.m., 2:00 p.m., and 3:45 p.m. and Saturday to Sunday at regular intervals between 10:00 a.m. and 3:45 p.m. If you are visiting on Thursday or Friday, you can also tour the Lancaster Police Museum housed inside of the castle grounds.

After you tour the castle, I recommend getting a bite to eat at Merchants 1688. You can enjoy food and drinks inside a 300-year-old wine merchant’s cellar. We worked up quite the appetite walking around the castle grounds and town of Lancaster, and this was a perfect spot. I had a delicious pumpkin spice martini before chowing down a cheesy tart and sticky toffee pudding. My spouse can recommend their take on the U.K. classic of fish and chips.