Wardour Castle

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Ruins of Old Wardour Castle.

Interior of Old Wardour Castle.

View from inside Old Wardour Castle.

Wardour Castle is located near Tisbury in the English county of Wiltshire, about 15 miles west of Salisbury. The original castle was partially destroyed during the Civil War. It is managed by English Heritage and is open to the public.

It was originally built in the late fourteenth century for John, the fifth Baron Lovell. It was inspired by the hexagonal castles then in fashion in parts of the Continent, particularly in France; but its own six-sided design is unique in Britain, as is its inclusion of several self-contained guest suites.

After the fall of the Lovell family following Francis Lovell's support of Richard III, the castle passed to the Arundells, of the ancient Cornish family with wide estates in Wiltshire. The Arundells subsequently became known as some of the most active of the Catholic landowners in England at the time of the Reformation; thus they naturally were Royalists in the English Civil War. During that conflict, Old Wardour Castle was one of the many castles across the land that could not stand against the improved ammunition and artillery of Cromwell's New Model Army; and it was badly damaged the second time it was besieged, in 1644, when the attacking forces laid charges in the base of the castle to flush the defenders out. The charges exploded prematurely, destroying a large section of the building.

The family slowly recovered power, however, through the English Commonwealth and the Glorious Revolution, until the eighth Baron, Henry Arundell, borrowed suficient funds to finance the rebuilding of the castle. This was done by the prominent Palladian James Paine. Paine built Wardour New Castle, but left the 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 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 parkland, intending it to be viewed as a romantic ruin.

The castles, old and new, have been featured in several motion pictures. The Old Castle appeared in the 1989 Kevin Costner feature Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, and the New Castle served as the dance school in Billy Elliot.

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