a small town of Warwickshire, nearly equidistant (5 miles) from Warwick, Leamington, and Coventry. The only interest of the place centres in its ruined castle, which stands on a rocky and commanding eminence. This castle, formerly one of the most extensive and majestic baronial edifices in England, was founded by Geoffrey de Clinton, Lord Chamberlain and Treasurer to Henry I. It was granted by Henry III. to Simon de Montfort Earl of Leicester, and became the chief rallying- KENNARE point of the insurgents who sided with that noble. After his death, it held out for six months against the royal forces. It was the scene of a splendid tournament in the time of Edward I., and here his successor was confined before his removal to Berkeley Castle. In the reign of Edward III., it passed into the hands of John of Gaunt, who made large additions to it. Under his son Henry IV., it reverted to the crown, and so continued till it was conferred by Queen Elizabeth on her favourite Leicester, who expended immense sums in enlarging and adorning the building. Elizabeth visited Kenilworth three times, and on the occasion of her last visit (1575), was entertained in a style of unparalleled magnificence. (See Sir Walter Scott's Kenilworth.)

After Leicester's death, the castle was seized by the crown. It was dismantled in the time of Cromwell, and thenceforth abandoned to decay. Since the Restoration it has belonged to the house of Clarendon. The only remnant of the original fortress is the Keep, "Caesar's Tower," the walls of which are in some places 16 feet thick. The more modern portions have suffered most from the ravages of time.