This is not an official Lego site.


These castles were all built by Bob Carney using standard Lego bricks and parts. Each castle is a scale model of a real European or Middle Eastern medieval castle. The first phase of each new project begins with in depth research, originally in libraries and now mostly on the internet, and then drawing the plans to "Lego scale", typically using 1/8" graph paper for plans, and elevations as well. Once I'm reasonably sure I've got enough of each kind of Lego brick needed to complete the project, I'm ready to build. The castles each take unique elements, so I'm often ordering some parts.

Construction is complete on my 158th castle, the unique toll castle called Pfalzgrafenstein, which is nestled on a tiny island in the middle of the Rhine River in western Germany.  I'll be transporting this project to Brickworld 2017 in Schaumburg, Illinois in mid-June.  And I've just completed a unique project for me: The construction of Kidwelly Castle in south Wales in three of its distinct phases!  The 1106 Norman palisade version of the castle (#155), was completed in mid-December. I then removed the wooden [actually plastic, of course] palisade and began construction of the 1277-1300 castle, fortified in stone (#156).  Then as January waned, I moved on to the ~1400 version with the new huge stone gatehouse and a not-quite-so-new chapel, all on the same landscape.  My 154th castle is fine tower called Brackloon Castle, the 2nd most powerful historic seat of the O'Maddens in County Galway, Ireland.  Castle #153 is the Castello di Torrechiara, a massive fortress on a hill in Emilia-Romagna (near Parma) in northern Italy.  It's the favorite of our dear friend, Dan Vallauri, who was kind enough to take Judy and me on a whirlwind two day tour of his homeland in September 2013.  Castle #152 is called the Château de Ranrouët. It is located in what is now the Loire-Atlantique Department in northwestern France.  It traveled to Brickworld in Schaumburg, Illinois June 16-19, 2016.  I hope you were among the 15,000 plus who saw it on Father's Day weekend, and perhaps enjoyed a dinner and tournament at nearby Medieval Times.  Otherwise, I've arranged the castles I've built by their country of origin.  Just click on any of the castle names that interest you (or all of them if you like) and you'll be treated to several photographs and a plan of the real castle, a brief history (possibly with personal notes) and pictures of my Lego model. There's also a Build Your Own section with my working Lego plans (when not too large) and several URLs referring you to related castle sites on the World Wide Web.

You can also click on the name of the country where the castles are located (or the small picture) to link to a Castle Locator Map, with castles listed in the order I built them [these maps are several years out of date. A project for the future!]. Also, after countless emails, I've decided to include a FAQ section which will hopefully answer most general questions. I'd still like to hear your comments! An updated castle lineage is now available -- it shows the order in which the castles were built and in which country the castle is located. The castle currently under construction is also noted, as applicable.

I have also added a page for novice but enthusiastic castle builders which is basically made up of several of my early castles which have largely been ignored on this Main Page due to the larger later edition. Pictures of the smaller castles plus available plans and elevations can be found at Early Castles and should be more rewarding for the beginner. There is also a Castle Builders' Page where you can enjoy the efforts of some your colleagues! I will update it as regularly as I receive input from various Lego friends.

While researching and modeling castles is my love, occasionally I use my Lego to build other things. Here's my favorite non-castle projects on a page entitled Trains, Ships and Other Stuff, including my 22-oar Viking longboat. And in the spring of 2011 I built to mini-fig scale the Tomb of Queen Nefertari, Great Wife of Pharaoh Ramesses II, located in the Valley of the Queens in Egypt. The ancient artwork is not Lego hieroglyphics, but authentic. In addition, I've assembled, at the suggestion of my friend Dan Vallauri in Monaco, a page which I call Lego Bar Art. When my wife Judy and I remodeled our lower level in 2000 (see Storage System below), the playroom bar was covered with 48-stud Lego baseplates. I've been doing "mosaic art" on the bar face ever since, and I've decided to show it off, since others might enjoy making their own variation(s) on this theme. Let me know what you think.

Then there is a page describing the history, design, purchase and setup of my plastic tip-out bin storage system. If you are thinking about a major alteration in the way you are sorting and storing your Lego bricks, and you are willing to spend a fair amount of money for the huge convenience, then click on the link above. And don't forget about BrickWorld 2016 at the Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center in Schaumburg, Illinois next June. I'll be there with a castle or two - to be announced. Finally, you will see no advertising on my webpage, but I must put in a plug for BrickJournal. And thank you all very much for visiting my Lego Castles webpage!

England Allington Appleby Keep Bodiam Bolton Canterbury Keep Castle Rising Chipchase Clifford's Tower Dover Goodrich Hedingham Hever Ludlow Maxstoke Middleham Newcastle-upon-Tyne Nottingham Nunney Rochester Stokesay Tattershall Tower of London Warkworth Warwick

France Anjony The Bastille La Tour de Constance Château d'Etampes Château de Najac Houdan donjon Montbrun Provins Ranrouët Roquetaillade Sarzay Tarascon Thoury Vincennes Ireland Aughnanure Ballinafad Ballytarsna Brackloon Bunratty Burnchurch Clara Derryhivenny Donegal Drogheda Dunsoghly Fiddaun Mallow Trim Termon McGrath

Scotland Affleck Tower Amisfield Tower Auchans Ballone Balvaird Barcaldine Borthwick Caerlaverock Carnasserie Castle Campbell Castle Stalker Claypotts Comlongon Coxton Tower Craigievar Craigmillar Crichton Doune Drum Edinample Elcho Elphinstone Glenbuchat Greenknowe Hermitage Leslie Levan MacLellan's Midmar Skipness Stewart Threave

Wales Beaumaris Caernarfon Caerphilly Carreg Cennen Castell Coch Chepstow Conway Dinefwr Grosmont Harlech Kidwelly Monnow Bridge Rhuddlan Weobley

Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, and The Netherlands Aigle (Switzerland) Chillon (Switzerland) Crupet (Belgium) Muiderslot (Netherlands) Neuschwanstein (Germany) Pfalzgrafenstein (Germany) Prunn (Germany) Stahleck (Germany) Stegeborg (Sweden) Die Wartburg (Germany)

Italy, Spain and Portugal Adranò (Sicily) Almourol (Portugal) Beja (Portugal) Castel del Monte (Italy) Fuensaldaña (Spain) Mareccio [Maretsch] (Italy) La Mota (Spain) Rocca Scaligera (Sirmione, Italy) San Giorgio (Mantua, Italy) Torre de Belém (Portugal) Torrechiara (Italy)

Eastern Europe and the Near East (Poland, Romania, Hungary, Estonia, Croatia, Israel, etc.) Bedzin (Poland) Belvoir (Israel) Bran (Romania) Diósgyõr (Hungary) Dubovac (Croatia) Kuressaare (Estonia) Vajdahunyad (Romania)

Site created and maintained by Robert Carney.