The date of construction of the castle is uncertain; ranges have been given from the early 14th to the late 15th centuries. The first Mackworth, Henry du Mackworth, appears in the
Pipe Rolls of 1254, and the MackWorth lineage can be followed from the early part of the 15th century. to
Sir John Curzon, 1st Baronet. Local legend says that the castle was destroyed during the
Parliamentary Civil War by some
ordnance on a nearby hill. Kerry dates it to a little before 1500. Some understanding of the layout of the rest of the building can be derived from the rectangular spaces on the west of the gatehouse, which once formed courtyards. According to Anthony Emery in
Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales, 1300-1500: East Anglia, Central England and Wales, the structure may never have been very grand. He recounts that a 1911 survey suggested that the walls surrounding those spaces were likely "timber-framed on low rubble walls", similar to the nearby 14th-century house of the Tuchet family, for whom the Mackworths served as stewards. Emery writes that "[t]he gateway was no more than a display structure, a very early example of that hankering for a world of chivalry and romance that had already passed."
Hollywood reference Mackworth Castle is the scene of events that take place in the 1954 movie
The Black Shield of Falworth, starring
Tony Curtis, which itself is based on the 19th century historical novel
Men of Iron by the American author
Howard Pyle. ==See also==