The Tower of London has been crowned the UK’s most photographed castle, according to new data released by photo curation app Popsa – just as Halloween arrives and Britain’s castles enjoy a cultural relevance surge thanks to the new Traitors series.
Analysing anonymised, aggregated metadata from millions of photos across 2024 and 2025, Popsa assigned each castle a Photo Index Score reflecting the relative volume of photos taken there.
The Tower of London: Britain’s Most Photographed Castle
The Tower of London’s perfect score of 100 places it well clear of Edinburgh Castle (score: 53) and Windsor Castle (score: 38) – a top three that between them spans more than 2,000 years of British history and some of the most dramatic settings in Europe.
Rising from the north bank of the Thames, the Tower’s medieval walls and soaring turrets form a striking silhouette against the City’s skyscrapers. A royal mint, prison and execution site where two of Henry VIII’s wives were beheaded, its turbulent past is as compelling as its riverside setting. Traitors’ Gate and the centuries-old nightly Ceremony of the Keys are among the most atmospheric photography moments available in the capital.
Royal Residences, Arthurian Ruins and Bond Villain Lairs
Edinburgh Castle ranks second (score: 53) – its sweeping views across the Scottish capital giving it a photographic range that few urban castles anywhere can match. The castle’s main photo highlights include the Great Hall, the Stone of Destiny, and the daily One O’Clock Gun ceremony.
The world’s oldest and longest occupied castle, Windsor Castle follows in third (score: 38); its Long Walk tree-lined avenue frames the building in the classic shot, and whose St George’s Chapel has hosted some of the key royal moments of recent times. Warwick Castle is in fourth (score: 24) – looming over the River Avon for almost 1,000 years, its towers and ramparts rising above a riverside setting that the article identifies as the castle’s most atmospheric photography vantage.
Cornwall and the Highlands Double Feature
Cornwall claims two entries in the ranking’s most dramatic coastal locations. Tintagel Castle ranks seventh (score: 13) – steeped in Arthurian legend dating back to the 12th century, its ruins cover mainland and island, connected by a footbridge above the Atlantic that’s an epic photo spot. St Michael’s Mount follows in eighth (score: 11) – a tidal island castle whose cobbled causeway vanishes beneath the sea at high tide, making it one of the most photographically unpredictable yet interesting subjects on the ranking.
Two Scottish Highland castles – Eilean Donan Castle (9th, score: 10) and Urquhart Castle (10th, score: 10) complete the ranking – covering cinematic glamour and the legendary Loch Ness.
With film credits including Highlander and The World Is Not Enough, Eilean Donan’s tidal island setting and the Dornie Bridge’s mirror reflections on calm mornings make it one of Scotland’s most reliably photogenic subjects. Urquhart’s crumbling Grant Tower above the dark waters of Loch Ness needs no monster to justify the photograph – though the data suggests its legendary setting doesn’t hurt.
“Castles are having a moment right now – and this data shows exactly why,” says Liam Houghton, CEO of Popsa. “From the Tower of London’s Thames-side execution site to Tintagel’s Arthurian clifftop ruins, the top ten tells the full story of what makes British castles so enduringly photogenic. With Halloween here, there has never been a better time to visit them.”
The Top 10 Most Photographed Castles in the UK
Please see the full rankings, photography suggestions and methodology here: popsa.com/perspectives/most-photographed-castles-uk/ –
