I enjoyed reading some of Victoria Holt's Gothic romances, but her later ones tended to lean more towards romance than suspense, thus it lost some of the Gothic feel. Jill Tattersall had some good Gothic tales but she didn't seem to have written a lot. Dorothy Eden had a few good Gothics, but she also wrote many romances as well. Can anyone expand on this short list of British authors who wrote traditional Gothic romances?
Seeing that you really like your castles and atmospheres, why not try reading some of the classic Gothics, such as Walpole and Mrs. Radcliffe?
She wrote mostly straight romances, but Barbara Cartland also wrote a few sentimental Gothic romances. One that was in the traditional style was "Castle of Fear".
I am a fan of Walpole. I don't know who my favorites are. I like variety, so I try to get a taste of as many different authors as possible.
I'm obsessed with classics, among them are
Dickens, dont know of h fits the Gothic genre, but there were some bits of Nicholas Nickleby that were decidedly sinister.
Austen, (Northanger Abbey) Conan Doyle, all of the Brontes
if you count 19th century Ireland as part of Britain, then Wilde and Stoker definitely fit the Gothic genre withe Dracula and The Picture of Dorian Grey.