Linford Group have started work on the £300,000 restoration project of Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire, where they have carried out a number of phases of work over the years.

This new conservation project will see the Lichfield-based restoration specialists return the castle\'s Gatehouse and attached dwellings to their former glory. The work involves extensive restoration of the exterior stonework and roof and conservation of internal finishes in Leicester\'s Gate House and Colonel Hawksworth\'s Dwelling.

Over the years Linford have worked on several major castle restoration projects, the most famous being the restoration of Royal Windsor Castle following the devastation of the fire in 1992. They have also worked on Warwick and Dudley castles.

The first castle at Kenilworth was built just 50 years after the Norman Conquest of 1066 and is among the largest castle ruins in England today. Many English kings contributed to its construction over the centuries. It was Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who added the gatehouse and residential buildings in the 1570s.

In the mid 12th Century Henry II took over the castle to counter an attack from his son\'s rebel army and in 1253 Henry III gave the castle to Simon de Montfort.