The castle now consists only of a great hall, once part of a fortified manor house built in the 12C for Walkelin de Ferrers. Inside the hall, which is one of the country's finest examples of domestic Norman architecture, over 200 horseshoes of all sizes cover the walls. The horseshoe was part of the Ferrers coat of arms and the lord of the manor always demanded one as a forfeit from every peer of the realm and member of the nobility passing through his estate.