It depicts the opulence of Sir Richard Abberbury, Donnington’s builder, whose private apartments were located there. It is supposed that Henry VIII and Elizabeth I stayed here.

During much of the English Civil War, massive defences were erected around the castle to protect it.

From 1287, the Abberbury family owned the manor of Donnington, and in 1386, Richard II gave Sir Richard Abberbury a licence “to crenellate and construct a castle at Donington, Berks.” At the wars of Crécy and Poitiers, Sir Richard was a friend of Richard II’s dad, Edward the Black Prince.

The castle was initially built around a courtyard with a curtain wall featuring four rounded corner towers, two square block towers, and a large gatehouse in the manner of the period’s fortified homes.