List of castles in Greater Manchester

There are nine castles in Greater Manchester, a metropolitan county in North West England. They comprise four motte-and-bailey castles, three fortified manor houses, an enclosure castle, and a possible shell keep. A motte-and-bailey castle is characterised by two elements: the motte is an artificial mound with a wooden stockade and stronghold on top, usually a stone keep or tower, while the bailey is a defended enclosure adjacent to the motte, typically enclosed by a ditch and a bank topped by a timber palisade or stone wall. Motte-and-bailey castles were the most common type of castle in England following the Norman Conquest. A shell keep was a motte with a stone wall rather than a wooden stockade on top, and would not have contained a tower within the walls. Four of Greater Manchester's castles are scheduled monuments: Buckton, Bury, Radcliffe Tower, and Watch Hill. A scheduled monument is a "nationally important" archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change.

The purpose of a castle was not solely militaristic; it was also a stamp of authority over the local population and a symbol of status. Some castles would have served as centres of trade and administration for a manor. The earliest castles in Greater Manchester are Dunham and Watch Hill in Trafford, Ullerwood in Manchester, and Stockport Castle in Stockport. Dunham, Ullerwood, and Stockport castles were first recorded in 1173 as belonging to barons who had rebelled against Henry II, and Watch Hill likely dates from the same period. At least three of these sites were motte-and-bailey castles, probably because of the speed and ease with which they could be erected. Hamon de Massey, who owned the Trafford castles and Ullerwood, and Geoffrey de Constentyn, who owned Stockport Castle, were two of the three rebels from Cheshire; the third was the Earl of Chester, the owner of Chester Castle.

Castles continued to be built in the area, although the last to be constructed in Greater Manchester were two fortified manor houses near Bury, built more for comfort than as utilitarian military structures. Bury Castle and Radcliffe Tower followed the national trend in the 13th century and would most likely have acted as the centres of the manors they served.