Old Wardour Castle, South West England
For a castle to be what is considered a real castle, it must not just bear the name castle, but it needs to have had a dual purpose, to be not just a home but a defensive home. It needs to have been able to defend itself from attack. A building of not just social status, but of military function. Whilst Old Wardour was built during the 100-Years War, it was also during the reign of Richard II, who had little taste for war. It was built in the French fashion, to be imposing yet luxurious, but it is still important that it could defend itself, even if its owner knew it would be unlikely that it would need to. In some ways the building seems to pull in itself in two directions, built with protected portcullises, machicolations, and projecting towers, and yet they seem to have been fitted into the design, rather than had the building designed for them. Military might may still have been needed, but comfort, fashion and style were becoming the higher priority, and in Old Wardour we can see this.
There was a Wardour mentioned around the year 900 having been visited by King Alfred, but we cannot be certain that this was the same location. We do know however, that by the time of the Domesday book in 1086, that there was a small manor of Wardour held by the nuns of Wilton Abbey, near Salisbury, comprising around 120 acres. For most of the early Middle Ages the manor was tenanted, until it was sold in 1386 to John, the 5th Lord Lovell. The Lovells were a Baronial family, whose ancestorial home was at Minster Lovel in Oxfordshire. John married Maud de Holland, who was a relation of Thomas de Holland, the first husband of Joan of Kent, who by her second marriage to Edward the Black Prince was the mother of King Richard II. It is likely that it was this connection that brough Lord Lovell into the King’s service in 1377, where he was made Master of the Kings Hounds and became a Knight of the Kings House in 1378.
In 1393, John the 5th Lord Lovell, received a license to crenellate from King Richard II, which allowed him to build a castle at Old Wardour. The castle was built in an octagonal shape, with two projecting towers to the front, and a central open courtyard, nothing else like it exists. This giant, oversized, keep looking structure, was not only built larger, it was built higher. While it is still an imposing and impressive structure today, it is a but dim shadow of the original building. After the death of John Lovel in 1408, and his wife Maud in 1423, it was their grandson William who inherited the castle until his death in 1455. It was then inherited by his son, another John, who fought for the losing side with the Lancastrians during the Wars of the Roses, and his estates were confiscated in 1461. Although some lands were later restored to his son Francis, Wardour was not one of them. Instead, the castle was let out to a series of lords, including Edward IV’s brother the Duke of Clarence, before being eventually sold to Thomas Butler, the Earl of Ormond. Having changed hands a few times, it was finally purchased by Thomas Arundell of Lanherne in 1547.
Thomas Arundell started his career working for Cardinal Wolsey, the Chanceller of England under Henry VIII, until Wolsey fell from favour. He was married to Margaret Howard, the sister of Katherine Howard, and when she became Queen in 1540 he became the Queen’s chamberlain. He managed to escape disgrace when Katherine was accused of aldultery and executed. Sir Thomas then allied himself with the Duke of Somerset, who eventually became Lord Protector of Edward VI, but when the Duke was accused of treason and executed in 1552, Thomas was also executed and his lands confiscated. Some were later restored to his widow, or given to his son Matthew, but again Wardour was not one of them.
Matthew Arundell was skilled at staying in favour. He was a Catholic under Queen Mary, and a Protestant under Queen Elizabeth, and managed to stay in favour with both of them. Matthew married one of Queen Elizabeth’s ladies in waiting, Margaret Willoughby, in 1597. He was in Queen Elizabeth's service for 26 years, and in 1570, he bought back Wardour from the Earl of Pembroke, and made it his principal residence. Matthew renovated, updated, altered and landscaped Wardour to his liking, bringing some of the medieval residence up to date by Tudor standards. He also left us a Latin inscription over the doorway of the castle, which shows us how important it was to Matthew to regain Wardour, it translates to:
‘Thomas, younger scion of the House of the Arundells
of Lanherne, First gained the right to make his home
in this place. But no sooner had he settled than he
was executed. Although he was innocent and above
reproach, he was punished. May his subsequent destiny
prove his innocence. For Matthew his son, redeemed
those things which were his fathers And, having
bought them, has increased them. By the favour of the
Prince, what he bought continues to flourish. May it
continue so, I pray, and my it be enriched for ever.
What God gave and took back he has now restored.
1578’
By the time of the English Civil War, many of the alterations to Wardour which updated the building, and made it more comfortable, were counter to many of its defensive features. The changes created did not help it when it found a need to defend itself again. The walls themselves stood, and proved a sufficient obstacle to attack, but the comfortable apartments with their large windows would be the castles undoing. Gunpowder was used in the drain of the garderobes, which brought down a substantial section of the exterior wall. Not all of the house was destroyed, but the most modern section was in need of substantial rebuilding.
The Arundell family never did rebuild the castle. By the 18th Century the house was still abandoned, but the grounds were turned into a pleasure garden, greatly changing the landscape in the process. The castle ruins became the gardens romantic feature. In the 17th Century a banqueting house was added, and in the 18th Century a grotto and stone circle were created. All of which make it much more difficult to understand how the castle originally sat in its landscape.
The alterations to the original castle make it harder to understand today. The front projecting towers were cut back on both sides of the entrance, the window openings were enlarged. The entrance doorway was redesigned in the new classical style, and two shellheaded seats cut into each side of the doorway. Over the doorway is the Arundell family coat of arms, and Matthew Arundell’s inscription.
It is not just the alterations which make Old Wardour more difficult to understand. The castle was a unique design with its hexagonal shape. The central courtyard was originally entirely enclosed by the castle walls, which rose to 4 or 5 stories in height, this in itself is quite an unusual feature for a castle keep. Most of the medieval doorways and windows were altered during the 16th Century works. The grand doorway to the great hall staircase, was altered in the 16th Century, and seems to have been inspired by a Roman triumphal arch. Visitors to Mathew Arundell’s castle would have been guided up this staircase.