Layout
Donnington Castle was originally built in a roughly rectangular form, though the west facade projected outwards irregularly. It was enclosed by a curtain wall, with a round tower at each of the four corner. Roughly halfway along the two walls running from west to east were to square towers. The courtyard enclosed by the curtain walls would probably have contained a hall, kitchens, and accommodation for guests. Measured from the inner sides of the curtain walls, the courtyard measured 67 feet (20 m) north to south and 108 ft (33 m) east to west.
During the Civil War star-shaped defences were built around the castle to facilitate gun emplacements. Only the gatehouse, crested by battlements, survived the castle's destruction in 1646; standing three storeys high, it measures 17.5 by 11.75 feet (5.3 by 3.58 m) internally. Modern walls standing 0.5 metres (1 ft 8 in) high outline the original layout of the demolished castle. The star-shaped earthworks added during the Civil War are still visible, surviving to a height of 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in).
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