Edge Hill Castle was build by William Thompson Russell Smith in 1854. The castle was named in part because it was constructed of "Edge Hill Granite". It is said that Smith's ancestors served as caretakers at Scotland's Rosslyn Castle for nearly two hundred years and his father was born in that castle. After housing three generations of the Smith family, the castle was sold in 1953.
I am not placing the exact address of this castle on this webpage because this castle is now being used as a private residence. As far as I know, they do not give tours. If you happen to find this castle, please do not bother the people living there.
On 5-20-05, I received E-Mail that said:
Your site shows an earlier e-mail describing Edge Hill Castle, in Pennsylvania. The author of that e-mail claimed that it was named "Edge Hill" Castle because it was made of Edge Hill granite. This is simply not true. It is named Edge Hill Castle because it is located in close proximity to Edge Hill Rd., the same Edge Hill Road that the Revolutionary War battle, The Battle of Edge Hill, was fought on. I also will not give the exact loaction, because the new owners are said to be extremely reclusive about it, and they keep aggressive dogs to patrol the property.
I have, however, been inside the castle, before the current owners took up residence, when it was offered up for sale in the 1980's. It is very well taken care of inside with original suits of armor lined up against the walls. I also was involved in a church fundraiser with the previous owners, raffling off very old pictures of the castle. Unfortunately, I kept none for myself. However, it is important to note that the previous owners claim that the castle, which is of the norman keep style, was originally from Europe, and therefore could not have been constructed of Edge Hill Granite. The Castle also includes an outbuilding which was used as a guest house by the previous owners, and may originally have been a guardhouse or a carriage house. The keep currently has a more modern wooden home attached to it which is not shown in the picture you have posted.
For those of you who wish to see this in person, if you are willing to chance the dogs wrath, there is a small local park that borders on the back lawn of the castle from which you can get an unobstructed view legally and without trespassing, but there is no fence to keep the dogs out of the park. To get to the location with the view, a strenuous hike up a very steep hill is required.
On 10-18-10, I received e-mail that said:
I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the picture of Edgehill Castle on your site. Having been born just down the hill on Edge Hill Road (783 to be precise), I have many memories of attempting to "storm" that castle over the years of my boyhood spent there from 1949 to 1960. The residents at that time were also not at all accommodating and also kept dogs that were reported to have slain several children over the years. Childish nonsense, of course, but it made the trips through "The Woods" that much more exciting. Nothing like terror to ignite a young lad's curiosity. There were no parks or houses or roads on the hill at that time as exist today, but the initial construction had started by the time we moved on in 1960 (to near Ambler and Mattison's Lindenwold Castle which was St. Mary's Home for Children then). I had a run in (age 7 or so) with one of the sons of the castle owners and had an interesting time watching my father defend my honor in a confrontation at the front door of that castle. The "king" of the castle was very apologetic, but my father still grounded me for the aggravation. Funny the memories a picture can stir into being.
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Picture courtesy of Molly Malloy.