Carisbrooke Castle is a historic motte-and-bailey castle, an Elizabethan artillery fortress, a king's prison (noted as being where King Charles I was imprisoned in the months before his trial) and a royal summer residence. Carisbrooke is at the very heart of the Isle of Wight's history, where you will find a fascinating museum and an Edwardian garden. There are traces of a Roman fort underneath the later buildings. It is now under the control of English Heritage.

 

The castle is reputedly haunted by three apparitions: a Grey Lady, a young man wearing a leather jerkin and a "huge man" wearing a white gown. All have been sighted at the moat. One witness claims to have had a conversation with the male in the leather jerkin for several minutes until he suddenly disappeared.