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Odiham Castle (also known locally as King John's Castle) is a ruined castle situated near Odiham in Hampshire, United Kingdom.
It is one of only three fortresses built by King John during his reign. The site was possibly chosen by King John because he had visited the area in 1204 and it lay halfway between Windsor Castle and Winchester.
The castle, which took seven years to complete, had a three-storey stone keep, an inner round moat and an outer square moat, as well as two moated baileys. There were also raised banking and palisades. Notably, the stronghold also had a domus regis or king's house.
Scrolls held by the Public Record Office indicate that total expenditure between the start of work in 1207 and 1214, when work ceased, amounted to £1,000 ().
In 1238 Simon de Montfort married King John's daughter Eleanor just two years after she had been granted Odiham by her brother, King Henry III. In the following year a kitchen was added on a bridge over the inner moat and a new hall was added on the outside of the keep. During the same period a second building was constructed over the moat, this time on the south eastern side of the keep, to provide extra living space.
In 1263 De Montfort rebelled against Henry and died at the Battle of Evesham in 1265; Eleanor was exiled. Odiham Castle was again retained by the Crown.
The castle was also involved in the rebellion led by the powerful Despenser family against Roger Mortimer and Queen Isabella of France, the wife of Edward II.
Odiham manor, the royal estate which predates the castle, hosted Parliament at least once, in 1303. King David II of Scotland, after his capture at the Battle of Neville's Cross in 1346, was imprisoned here for 11 years. He was held under a light guard and was allowed to keep a household. Using the castle as a prison seems to have been common practice during the 13th and 14th centuries; the nearby Manor of Greywell was required to provide guards one night in three.
By the 15th century Odiham castle was used only as a hunting lodge, and in 1605 it was described as a ruin.
In 1792 the Basingstoke Canal was built through the southern corner of the bailey.
Two series of archaeological excavations have been carried out at the castle, one in 1953 reported in a local newspaper, and the other between 1981 and 1985, carried out by Hampshire County Council Museum Services.
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