You Are Here : Home / Government/ Project Types / Brandymore Castle

Brandymore Castle

Location

In Madison Manor Park near North Roosevelt Street and Four Mile Run.

About

Date: n/a

Historic Designation: Local Historic District, May 17, 1986

Current Use of Property: Passive Recreation

Brandymore Castle is a natural landmark, significant because it was used as a locating point to determine the boundaries of at least five early 18th-century Northern Neck proprietary land grants. Brandymore Castle was a recognizable landmark as a rock formation with a massive outcropping of quartz situated at the north end of Madison Manor Hill, above the point where Four Mile Run formed a loop prior to the construction of Interstate 66.

This rocky outcrop was named for its castle-like appearance. It was first described in 1724 by surveyor Charles Broadwater as “the Rock Stones called Brandymore Castle.”

The exact location of Brandymore was in dispute until 1973, when Robert Moxham, a geophysicist in the Isotope Geology Branch of the U.S. Geological Survey, presented research placing the landmark on Madison Manor Hill, rather than Minor Hill. A County historical marker formerly identified the site, but it was removed during the construction of Interstate 66 in the late 1970’s.

Although the residential development of Madison Manor surrounds the hill and construction of I-66 has altered the setting of the rock formation as seen in the early 18th century, the immediate area of the rock formation remains intact. Brandymore Castle is an important natural landmark that provides a link to settlement patterns in Arlington during the early 18th century.