onnington Castle's can be found just north of Newbury in Berkshire. A family called Abberbury owned the land and a licence to crenellate was granted to Richard Abberbury by King Richard II in 1385 (or 1386) around the same time as at Bodiam. Richard Abberbury built a new castle on a natural hill above a stream called the Lambourn. The castle was roughly rectangular in shape with four circular towers at the corners. Unlike many castles Donnington did not have a separate keep. Instead the strongest part of the castle was the large gatehouse which is now all that remains.
The gatehouse is rectangular in shape projecting quite a distance beyond the castle walls and has two very tall drum-towers in front of it. The towers have several string courses running horizontally around them dividing the towers into several sections. A range of buildings would have occupied the central courtyard. Richard Abberbury did not have any children and when he became old he sold the castle to Thomas Chaucer, the son of the poet Geoffrey. Thomas bought the castle in 1415 for his daughter Alice possibly as a wedding gift for her and her new husband Sir John Philip.
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