Wardour Castle is a ruined 14th-century castle at Wardour, on the boundaries of the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

es of Tisbury and

Donhead St Andrew Donhead St Andrew is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, on the River Nadder. It lies east of the Dorset market town of Shaftesbury. The parish includes the hamlets of West End, Milkwell and (on the A30) Brook Waters. Ferne House ...

in the English county of

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, about west of

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

. The castle was built in the 1390s, came into the ownership of the

Arundells Arundells is a Grade II* listed house at 59 Cathedral Close, Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. Located on the West Walk of the Close, next to the 'Wardrobe' (Rifles Museum), it was the home of Edward Heath, the former Prime Minister of the United ...

in the 16th century and was rendered uninhabitable in 1643 and 1644 during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

. A Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, it is managed by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

and open to the public.

History

Construction and design

In the 1300s, the land on which the castle was built was owned by the St Martin family until Sir Lawrence de St Martin died in 1385. Later in that year the land was acquired by John, the fifth

Baron Lovell There have been four baronies and one viscountcy created in the name of Lovel or Lovell. Baron Lovel, of Titchmarsh (England, 6 February 1299) * John Lovel, 1st Baron Lovel (1254–1311) * John Lovel, 2nd Baron Lovel (1289–k.1314), died at ...

. In 1392 or 1393 Baron Lovell was granted permission by King

Richard II Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father died ...

to build a castle on the site. It was constructed using locally quarried Tisbury

greensand Greensand or green sand is a sand or sandstone which has a greenish color. This term is specifically applied to shallow marine sediment that contains noticeable quantities of rounded greenish grains. These grains are called ''glauconies'' and c ...

, and the

master mason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

was

William Wynford William Wynford or William of Wynford (flourished 1360–1405) was one of the most successful English master masons of the 14th century, using the new Perpendicular Gothic style. Life and career He is first mentioned in 1360 when at work at Winds ...

. The design was inspired by the

hexagon In geometry, a hexagon (from Ancient Greek, Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple polygon, simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°. Regular hexa ...

al (6-sided) castles then in fashion in parts of the Continent, particularly in France (with similarities being noted to the château de Concressault); but its own design is unique in Britain. The inclusion of several self-contained guest suites was also unique in Britain at that time. Wardour Castle engraving 1732

Arundells

After the fall of the Lovell family following their support of the Lancastrian cause during the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought bet ...

, the castle was confiscated in 1461 and passed through several owners until bought by

Sir Thomas Arundell Sir Thomas Arundell of Wardour Castle in Wiltshire (c. 150226 February 1552) was a Cornish administrator and alleged conspirator. Arundell was connected by birth and marriage to the crown and to several of the most important families in England, ...

of Lanherne in 1544. The

were an ancient and prominent Cornish family, the principal branches of which were seated at the manors of Lanherne,

Trerice Trerice (pronounced ''Tre-rice'') is an historic manor in the parish of Newlyn East (Newlyn in Pydar), near Newquay, Cornwall, United Kingdom. The surviving Tudor manor house known as Trerice House is located at Kestle Mill, three miles east o ...

, Tolverne and Menadarva in Cornwall. The family held several estates in Wiltshire. The castle was confiscated when Sir Thomas – a staunch Roman Catholic – was executed for treason in 1552, but in 1570 was bought back by his son, Sir Matthew Arundell, later a

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

and

Custos Rotulorum of Dorset This is a list of people who have served as Custos Rotulorum of Dorset. * Sir Thomas Arundell bef. 1547–1552 * Thomas Howard, 1st Viscount Howard of Bindon bef. 1558–1582 * Sir Matthew Arundell bef. 1584–1598 * Sir Walter Ralei ...

. Arundell greatly altered the castle, with windows being enlarged and classical doorways and niches being added. The work would likely have been completed by around 1578 (since this is the year inscribed above the entrance).

Civil War

The Arundells, led by

Thomas Arundell, 1st Baron Arundell of Wardour Thomas Arundell, 1st Baron Arundell of Wardour (c. 15607 November 1639) was the eldest son of Matthew Arundell, Sir Matthew Arundell of Wardour Castle in Wiltshire (ca. 1532/1534 – 24 December 1598), and Margaret Willoughby, the daughter of Sir ...

, subsequently became known as some of the most active of the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

landowners in England at the time of the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

; they were naturally

Royalists A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...

in the

. During that conflict,

Thomas Arundell, 2nd Baron Arundell of Wardour Thomas Arundell, 2nd Baron Arundell of Wardour ( – 19 May 1643) was an England, English nobleman son of Thomas Arundell, 1st Baron Arundell of Wardour and Lady Mary Wriothesley. Life He succeeded to the title of 2nd Baron Arundell of Wardour, ...

, was away from home on the King's business and had instructed his wife,

Lady Blanche Arundell Lady Blanche Arundell (née Lady Blanche Somerset; 1583 or – 28 October 1649) was an English noblewoman, known as the defender of Wardour Castle, where she defended the castle for nearly a week with just 25 men and her maidservants against a ...

, aged 61, to defend the castle with a garrison of 25 trained fighting men. On 2 May 1643 Sir Edward Hungerford, with 1,300 men of the Parliamentarian Army, demanded admittance to search for Royalists. He was refused and laid

siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition warfare, attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity con ...

, setting about the walls with guns and mines. After five days the castle was threatened with complete destruction. Lady Arundell agreed to a surrender, and the castle was placed under the command of Colonel

Edmund Ludlow Edmund Ludlow (c. 1617–1692) was an English parliamentarian, best known for his involvement in the execution of Charles I, and for his ''Memoirs'', which were published posthumously in a rewritten form and which have become a major source f ...

. Lord Arundell had died of his wounds after the

Battle of Stratton The Battle of Stratton, also known as the Battle of Stamford Hill, took place on 16 May 1643, during the First English Civil War. In the battle, the Royalists destroyed Parliament's field army in Devon and Cornwall. Background When the war s ...

that same month, Henry 3rd Lord Arundell, the son of Thomas and Blanche, brought a Royalist force to reclaim the castle. By November 1643 he had blockaded Wardour, and after mining the walls blew up much of it, obliging the Parliamentary garrison to surrender in March 1644.

Replacement by New Wardour Castle

The family slowly recovered power through the

English Commonwealth The Commonwealth was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when England and Wales, later along with Ireland and Scotland, were governed as a republic after the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execut ...

and the

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution; gd, Rèabhlaid Ghlòrmhor; cy, Chwyldro Gogoneddus , also known as the ''Glorieuze Overtocht'' or ''Glorious Crossing'' in the Netherlands, is the sequence of events leading to the deposition of King James II and ...

, until the eighth Baron,

Henry Arundell Henry Arundell (born 8 November 2002) is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a fullback for Top 14 club Racing 92 and the England national team. Early life Arundell was born on Cyprus in 2002, at the then Royal Air Forc ...

, borrowed sufficient funds to finance rebuilding. This was done by the prominent

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

James Paine, who built

New Wardour Castle New Wardour Castle is a Grade I listed English country house at Wardour, near Tisbury in Wiltshire, built for the Arundell family. The house is of Palladian style, designed by the architect James Paine, with additions by Giacomo Quarenghi, wh ...

some distance to the north-west, leaving Wardour Old Castle as an ornamental feature. In stylistic terms, the "New Castle" is not a castle at all, but a symmetrical neoclassical

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

with a main block built around a central staircase hall and two flanking wings. Paine integrated the ruins of the Old Castle into the surrounding

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

land, intending it to be viewed as a romantic ruin.

Characteristics of Old Wardour

Front door and entrance

The castle's ground level was altered around the 18th century. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, the ground sloped away more steeply than today so that the building stood at the top of a low ridge of land. As usual with mediaeval castles, the approach to the main door was protected by a deep ditch crossed by a

drawbridge A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of moveable ...

, with a

portcullis A portcullis (from Old French ''porte coleice'', "sliding gate") is a heavy vertically-closing gate typically found in medieval fortifications, consisting of a latticed grille made of wood, metal, or a combination of the two, which slides down gr ...

inside the doorway. Between the towers at the level of the

battlements A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

are the remains of a projecting gallery or

barbican A barbican (from fro, barbacane) is a fortified outpost or fortified gateway, such as at an outer fortifications, defense perimeter of a city or castle, or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defensive purposes. Europe ...

which would have been used to defend the front entrance. Above the portal over the front entrance is the Arundell

coat-of-arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its w ...

and a description of the Arundell's possession of Wardour, erected by Sir Matthew Arundell in 1578 to celebrate his recovery of the property after the family lost it when Sir Thomas Arundell was executed in 1552. Above the coat of arms is the head of Christ in a niche with the inscription: ''Sub nomine tuo stet genus et domus''.

Central courtyard

In the 1570s, most of the original medieval windows and doors would have been replaced. In the centre of this interior courtyard, there is a well. Evidence gathered from other castles from the same era suggests that there would have been an elaborate and impressive roof over the well, carved and painted with the emblems of the Lovells and the Arundells. In 1644 when the south-west side of the castle was blown up during the Civil War (see above), the courtyard changed from a dark and

claustrophobic Claustrophobia is the fear of confined spaces. It can be triggered by many situations or stimuli, including elevators, especially when crowded to capacity, windowless rooms, and hotel rooms with closed doors and sealed windows. Even bedrooms with ...

place to a light, spacious

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a saf ...

. It was in the shape of a hexagon, surrounded by four or five storeys.

Great Hall

At the top of the stairs leading from the courtyard, any

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

visitor would have found themselves in a passageway that, on the left, led into the

great hall A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages, and continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great ...

behind a wooden screen with arched openings. This room was the formal heart of the castle, where the whole household would meet for feasts and special occasions. The walls were covered in rich fabrics that concealed machinery that controlled the two portcullises. In the 1570s, Matthew Arundell refurbished the Great Hall. A new musicians' gallery was built above the wooden entrance screen. The fireplace was reshaped and new wooden panels were put in place of the wall hangings and banners. The doorway leading from the great hall into the lobby was also redesigned. The tall windows and the old wooden roof were retained, and it is thought that this was to preserve some elements of Lord Lovell's castle.

Lobby

The lobby was a narrow room which was used to entertain guests with

sweetmeats Confectionery is the Art (skill), art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlappi ...

after the meal while the tables were being cleared in the Great Hall to create space for dancing. Such spaces were popular features of medieval houses. In the 1570s Matthew Arundell had the room fitted with new fireplaces and altered the stairs in the north tower at the same time to give a more private approach to the upper rooms.

Upper rooms

Today, very little remains of the upper rooms, which once would have been the most inviting part of the castle. Like the great hall, they were high rooms with intricate wooden roofs. Each room would have had two tall windows looking out upon the landscape and a third looking into the courtyard. By 1605, the upper rooms had been converted to a gallery, a long room with many windows, as was popular in the upper floors of

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...

houses.

Banqueting House

The Banqueting House was built between 1773 and 1774 as a place to entertain visitors.

Grotto

The

grotto A grotto is a natural or artificial cave used by humans in both modern times and antiquity, and historically or prehistorically. Naturally occurring grottoes are often small caves near water that are usually flooded or often flooded at high ti ...

was built in 1792 by Josiah Lane of Tisbury utilising stones from the castle ruins. In addition to the grotto, a small stone circle incorporates three standing stones, removed from the now-vanished stone circle at Tisbury was created nearby.

In popular culture

The castles, old and new, have been featured in several

films A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

. The Old Castle, including the grotto on the north side of its grounds, appeared in the 1991

Kevin Costner Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American actor, producer, film director and musician. He has received various accolades, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Screen Actor ...

feature '' Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves''. The New Castle served as the dance school in ''

Billy Elliot ''Billy Elliot'' is a 2000 British coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Daldry and written by Lee Hall. Set in County Durham in North East England during the 1984–1985 miners' strike, the film is about a working-class boy wh ...

''. The cover of Sting's album ''

Ten Summoner's Tales ''Ten Summoner's Tales'' is the fourth solo studio album by English rock musician Sting. The title is a combined pun of his family name, Sumner, and a character in Geoffrey Chaucer's ''The Canterbury Tales'', the summoner. Released in 1993, it ...

'' was photographed inside Old Wardour Castle.

References

Gallery

File:Old Wardour castle.JPG, Old Wardour Castle ruins File:OldWardourCastle.jpg , Interior of Old Wardour Castle. File:OldWardourCastleWindows.jpg, View from inside Old Wardour Castle. File:Wardourcastle1.JPG, Interior Great Hall File:Wardourcastle2.JPG, Exterior File:Wardourcastlefireplace.JPG, Fireplace File:Wardourcastlecopurtyard.JPG, Hexagonal central courtyard & well taken from the 2nd floor File:Wardourcastlestairtop.JPG, Top of the highest staircase File:Wardourcastle3.JPG, staircases from exterior File:Old Wardour from lodge.JPG, Ruins of Castle Wardour as seen from the lodge

External links

English Heritage page
{{Authority control Buildings and structures completed in the 14th century Castles in Wiltshire Houses in Wiltshire Grade I listed buildings in Wiltshire Ruins in Wiltshire English Heritage sites in Wiltshire Ruined castles in England