Beeston Castle was originally occupied by a Bronze Age settlement and Iron Age hillfort. In the early 13th century Ranulf de Blundeville, earl of Chester, founded the stone enclosure and bailey fortress, standing majestically on a sheer rocky outcrop. The huge outer bailey is still partly encased by a curtain wall, with open-backed D-shaped flanking towers and defended by a wide ditch, is a square garderobe tower, with the fragments of a massive three storey twin-towered gatehouse. The small inner bailey stands at the top of the crag and its well is one of the deepest in the country. Protected by a wide, deep rock-cut ditch, the inner bailey curtain wall, is flanked by two-storey D-shaped towers and an Edwardian two storey twin-towered gatehouse. 9 miles west is Aldford Castle and 11 miles north-west is Chester Castle.