edingham Castle was built in around 1140 by Aubrey de Vere an Essex land owner. All that remains of the castle is the keep which is rectangular in plan and stands to a height of 110 feet. In places the walls are 12 feet thick. The keep now stands alone but once it would have been surrounded by other builds and a curtain wall. The keep originally had a fore-building that acted as the main entrance, but like many of the other existing Keep Towers, this section has been removed. The keep is similar to Rochester and could have been designed and built by the same architect. The de Veres earned the title of Earls of Oxford by assisting the Empress Matilda with her cause against King Stephen during the Civil War.The interior of the keep is very well preserved and on the second floor is a large banqueting hall whose timber roof is supported by a massive Norman semi-circular arch with a span of 28 feet, one of the largest of its kind. It is still possible to walk around a gallery set within the thickness of the walls to overlook the banqueting hall below.
