Benington Castle is a ruined castle in the village of Benington

Benington, Hertfordshire

Benington is a village and civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England, about four miles east of Stevenage and 35 miles north of London...

, near Stevenage

Stevenage

Stevenage is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England. It is situated to the east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1, and is between Letchworth Garden City to the north, and Welwyn Garden City to the south....

 in Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

 at .

It was built as a motte and bailey fortress in the late 11th or early 12th century, founded by Peter de Valoignes. In 1136, Roger de Valoignes built a stone castle with a keep

Keep

A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the...

. In 1177, King Henry II

Henry II of England

Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...

 ordered that the tower be demolished but in 1192 the castle was in use again. It was finally destroyed in 1212, after Robert Fitzwalter

Robert Fitzwalter

Lord Robert FitzwalterAlso spelled FitzWalter, fitzWalter, etc. was the leader of the baronial opposition against King John of England, and one of the twenty-five sureties of the Magna Carta...

 rebelled against King John

John of England

John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...

. Only the foundations of the keep and some earthworks now remain. In 1832, George Proctor added a neo-Norman gatehouse, summerhouse and curtain wall.