About the CST
The Castle Studies Trust is a UK based charity founded in July 2012 with the aim of increasing knowledge of castles in the UK and abroad. The Trust has the express aim of:
'The advancement of public education for public benefit by promoting the study of and research into the history and archaeology of castles and dissemination of all useful results of such research.'
The Trust will award grants of up to £10,000 (incl VAT), to fund or co-fund with other organisations and projects.
Initial focus will be on funding new pieces of research such as site based research as well as projects that increase the public understanding of these sites. To see what projects the Trust would fund please click to the grants section.
The trust will work closely with the leading experts in castle studies to make sure that grants are targeted so that the maximum returns are achieved.
The Castle Studies Trust is entirely funded by the public so we rely on donations to fund our grants. The CST is developing a programme of exclusive site visits for donors to the projects they have helped fund during the research process or soon after, with an opportunity to find out about the results first, prior to publication. Click here to see how you can donate.
The Castle Studies Trust is happy to welcome the generous support of the Castle Studies Group.
About the Patrons
The Trust is very lucky to have as patrons two leading experts in the field, John Goodall and Edward Impey
Edward Impey
Edward Impey has been involved in the study and conservation of castles since the 1980s, beginning with a series of studies in France, largely in Normandy and Touraine. Amongst the resulting publications was a monograph on the great tower at Langeais and articles on those at Montrichard, Avranches and Ivry-la-Bataille. As Curator of Historic Royal Palaces he oversaw numerous research and conservation projects at the Tower of London, including excavations in the Tower moat.
In 2000 he co-authored (with Dr Geoffrey Parnell) the Official Illustrated History of the castle, and subsequently contributed to and edited The White Tower (Yale Press, 2008). In a succession of positions at English Heritage he was involved in the curation, study and presentation of castles in the National Collection, and wrote the current guide book to Castle Acre Castle and Priory. His personal writing and research continues to focus on medieval history and architecture. In October 2013, he took up the position of Master and Director General of the Royal Armouries before retiring in 2021.
John Goodall
John Goodall is the architectural editor of Country Life. He is responsible for writing and commissioning the celebrated series of architectural features published in the magazine every week. John has published two award-winning books God’s House at Ewelme (2001) and The English Castle (2011), which has received three prizes including the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion. John has been involved in various television series on history and architecture. He was the series consultant for the BBC1 television series on architecture presented by David Dimbleby, The Way We Built Britain (2007).
Previous to his present post, John worked as a researcher and historian at English Heritage (1997-9 and 2003-7), where he was involved in launching the new guidebook series known as the Red Guides and worked on several flagship exhibitions at sites including Battle and Dover. John has lectured widely to specialist, university and general audiences. He has also contributed articles to books, journals and magazines.