About
Boarstall Tower is one of the most remarkable and atmospheric medieval survivals in the Vale of Aylesbury — a magnificent 14th-century gatehouse tower that once guarded the entrance to a great moated manor house and which now stands, largely alone, as a monument to the vanished world of medieval Buckinghamshire gentry life. The tower was built in the late 14th century, probably around 1312, when the manor of Boarstall was granted a licence to crenellate — the royal permission required to construct a fortified building. It served as the principal gatehouse of a moated manor complex comprising the tower, the manor house itself, and associated outbuildings, all set within a wide moat fed from local streams and designed as much for prestige as for defence.
Over the following centuries the manor house that the tower originally served was progressively reduced and eventually demolished, leaving the tower standing as the sole major survivor of the medieval complex. The tower itself is a structure of considerable architectural quality and visual drama: a three-storey rectangular block in local limestone rubble with round projecting turrets at each angle, surviving battlements along the parapet, and a fine gateway arch at the ground level that would once have spanned the drawbridge crossing the moat. The drawbridge pit — the void in front of the gateway where the timber bridge was raised — is still clearly visible, giving an immediate and vivid sense of the security arrangements of a medieval fortified residence.
The National Trust has held Boarstall Tower since 1943 and manages it as a modest but significant heritage property set within beautiful Buckinghamshire countryside. The surrounding moat survives intact and the setting — farmland, hedgerows, and a picturesque village church nearby — retains much of the rural tranquillity that would have characterised this corner of medieval England. The tower is not a large or complex site, but its architectural completeness, the survival of its moat, and its setting combine to create an experience of considerable charm and historical authenticity.
Visitors can explore the interior of the tower on structured visits, climbing through the three storeys to enjoy panoramic views over the Vale of Aylesbury from the battlemented roof. The rooms retain historic fabric including stone fireplaces, medieval window embrasures, and original masonry that brings the life of a 14th-century fortified household into immediate focus. Boarstall Duck Decoy, a National Trust nature reserve a short distance away, can be combined with a visit to the tower for a rewarding day in the Buckinghamshire countryside.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
💡 Visitor Tips
- Check the National Trust website for current opening arrangements before visiting — Boarstall Tower has limited seasonal opening and arrangements can change
- National Trust members get free admission — membership is worthwhile if you plan to visit other NT properties in Buckinghamshire or Oxfordshire
- Combine your visit with Boarstall Duck Decoy nearby — together they make a rewarding half-day in the Buckinghamshire countryside
- The tower roof offers panoramic views across the Vale of Aylesbury — on a clear day the Chiltern Hills are visible in the distance
- The tower has steep internal stairs and is not suitable for those with significant mobility impairments
- The site is in a remote rural location with no nearby facilities — bring refreshments if you plan to spend time in the area
- The moat is at its most atmospheric in early morning or late afternoon when the water reflects the tower — photographers should note the light direction
- Wear sturdy footwear — the grounds around the tower can be muddy in wet weather, and the rooftop battlement access involves steep stone steps
Highlights
The 14th-Century Gatehouse Architecture
Boarstall Tower represents one of the finest surviving examples of a medieval moated gatehouse in the whole of southern England — a building that speaks with great clarity about both the practical and the symbolic concerns of a late medieval nobleman seeking to advertise his status while securing his household.
The three-storey rectangular block with its four rounded angle turrets, crenellated parapet, and central gateway arch combines defensive functionality with an aesthetic statement of power and sophistication. The limestone masonry, though weathered by seven centuries of Buckinghamshire weather, retains extraordinary quality and completeness.
Standing before the tower, visitors experience something very close to the visual impact it would have had on an approaching medieval visitor arriving to seek entry to the manor.
The Drawbridge Pit and Gateway
The central gateway arch at the base of the tower is one of its most compelling features — a beautifully formed pointed arch that once carried the chains of the drawbridge and controlled access to the manor beyond. The drawbridge pit, the rectangular void in front of the gateway where the timber bridge was raised and lowered, is still clearly visible in the ground before the entrance, giving an immediate and utterly convincing sense of how entry to the medieval fortified residence was managed.
This is not a restoration or reconstruction but an authentic survival: the actual pit over which medieval visitors would have waited while the household decided whether to lower the bridge and grant them access.
Few sites in England make the realities of medieval access control quite so tangible.
The Surviving Moat
The moat that surrounds Boarstall Tower is one of its most picturesque and historically significant features — a wide water-filled channel fed from local streams that encircles the tower and its immediately surrounding ground and survives in essentially complete and intact form. Moats were a fundamental feature of medieval fortified and semi-fortified manor houses throughout England, serving both the practical purpose of making unauthorised access difficult and the symbolic purpose of marking the physical and social separation between the residence of a lord and the world beyond his boundary.
The Boarstall moat, with its reflections of the tower in the still water and its population of waterfowl, creates an atmosphere of medieval authenticity that photographs and printed accounts can barely convey.
Interior Rooms and Medieval Fabric
Visitors who climb through Boarstall Tower's three storeys encounter a succession of rooms whose medieval fabric is remarkably well preserved.
Stone fireplaces, deep-set medieval window embrasures, original masonry, and the fabric of the wall surfaces provide a direct physical connection to the domestic life of the tower's medieval and early modern occupants. The rooms were used not merely as a formal gatehouse but as residential accommodation — for the porter responsible for controlling the gate, and for guests or household members in the upper storeys.
The experience of moving through the tower's vertical sequence of spaces gives a vivid impression of the spatial organisation of a medieval fortified dwelling and the ways in which different levels served different social functions.
Collections
Boarstall Tower is primarily an architectural and landscape heritage site rather than a collection-holding museum. The tower's principal offering is its remarkably complete 14th-century fabric — the gatehouse structure itself, with its turrets, battlements, gateway arch, and interior rooms — together with the surrounding moat.
Interpretive displays within the tower explain the history of the manor and the architectural significance of the gatehouse, while National Trust guides on open days provide additional context.
The History of Boarstall Tower
Interpretive panels and displays within the tower explaining the architectural history of the gatehouse, the history of the manor of Boarstall, and the significance of moated manor houses in medieval England.
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.