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Ludgershall Castle is a ruined 12th-century fortified royal residence at Ludgershall in
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 ...
, England. Three large walls still remain of the castle, which was turned into a hunting lodge by Henry III but fell into disuse by the 15th century. The ruin was listed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument in 1981.


Details and history

Extensive earthworks remain, although a private house stands on part of the site. The earthworks have been greatly altered by quarrying. The southern enclosure, which lies within them and at the opposite end of the site from the standing walls, is thought to have been an
Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...
stronghold.P. Ellis (ed.) ''Monograph no. 2: Ludgershall Castle, Wiltshire: a report on the excavations by Peter Addyman 1964–72'' (Devizes:
Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society was founded in 1853, and is one of the largest county-based archaeological societies in the United Kingdom. It runs the Wiltshire Museum in Devizes, Wiltshire which has the best Bronze Ag ...
, 2000) A medieval castle was probably first built in the late 11th century by Edward of Salisbury, Sheriff of Wiltshire. By about 1100 it had come into the possession of
the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
, and John the Marshal (–1165) is recorded as the king's castellan. He strengthened it and may have added the northern enclosure, which contained the important buildings, largely in stone, including a great hall and a tower with royal living quarters. The southern enclosure was the bailey, where there were stables, kitchens, and timber farm buildings. King John improved the castle as a hunting lodge in 1210, and Henry III made improvements to the castle between 1234 and 1251, such as the addition of the great hall in 1244; he visited the castle at least 21 times. The castle was used less and less frequently in the 14th and 15th centuries, and by the 1540s most of its ruins had been demolished. The site was levelled to form a garden, with the surviving 12th-century tower kept as a garden feature. Ludgershall was a more important place in medieval England than it is now, and was able to send two members to
Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
, a privilege it kept until the
Reform Act In the United Kingdom, Reform Act is most commonly used for legislation passed in the 19th century and early 20th century to enfranchise new groups of voters and to redistribute seats in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ...
of 1832. The site was excavated for the first time between 1964 and 1972 by the
University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...
. The ruin was listed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument in 1981.


See also

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Castles in Great Britain and Ireland Castles have played an important military, economic and social role in Great Britain and Ireland since their introduction following the Norman invasion of England in 1066. Although a small number of castles had been built in England in the 1050 ...
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List of castles in England This list of castles in England is not a list of every building and site that has "castle" as part of its name, nor does it list only buildings that conform to a strict definition of a castle as a medieval fortified residence. It is not a li ...
*


References


External links

*{{cite web, title=Ludgershall, url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Community/Index/145, website=Wiltshire Community History, publisher=Wiltshire Council, access-date=1 March 2015 Castles in Wiltshire English Heritage sites in Wiltshire Ludgershall, Wiltshire