Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire is being recreated via Minecraft.
Photo: Press Association Images
Kenilworth Castle has been restored to its former glory with the help of the computer game Minecraft.

Expert virtual builders, Blockworks, have brought the popular game to the Warwickshire landmark which has stood in ruins for more than 300 years.

Visitors can rebuild two of its famous sites at Minecraft workshops hosted by English Heritage this summer.

Kenilworth Castle has been a royal castle for most of its history.
Kenilworth Castle has been a royal castle for most of its history. Credit: English Heritage
As part of the #LoveCastles season, the charity are hoping that the visualisation shows what Kenilworth may have looked like when Queen Elizabeth I visited many years ago.

Built in the 1120s Kenilworth has been a royal castle for most of its history but it was Queen Elizabeth I’s suitor, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who spared no expense trying to woo her with structural improvements.

Kenilworth Castle was partly destroyed in a deliberate act of sabotage during the Civil War in 1642.
Kenilworth Castle was partly destroyed in a deliberate act of sabotage during the Civil War in 1642. Credit: English Heritage/PA
English Heritage head properties curator Jeremy Ashbee, said: “Awesome though it remains, an intact Kenilworth Castle isn’t that easy to visualise – there are huge gaps where walls have been demolished, roofs and floors stolen, and the contents sold off or destroyed.

He added: “This Minecraft model undoubtedly captures the essence of the castle that greeted Elizabeth I in 1575 – towering buildings, fashionable high Elizabethan windows, the huge lake surrounding it, and the magnificent privy garden. All this will help the public to imagine what the castle was like in its heyday.”

Minecraft workshops are taking place at Dover Castle on August 19 and Kenilworth Castle on August 26. YouTuber Amy Lee33 will be on hand to coach players in the art of virtual castle building.

For more information, visit http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/castles

Last updated Tue 14 Aug 2018