Old Wardour Castle
We had originally wanted to visit Old Wardour while in Salisbury at the start of the week. The drama at Stonehenge disrupted this plan massively and meant that we couldn't go which upset us as the castle had looked right up our street.
Jamie then suggested that we go on our way to Glastonbury as it wasn't massively out of our way. So Saturday morning, otherwise known as Eurovision day, we made the trip from Launceston back to Wiltshire so we could have a wander around Old Wardour Castle.
We are so glad that we didn't miss this as it was a destination that told such a big story. There were bullet holes, cracks, lots of stairs and lots of history. There was even a man made stone grotto overlooking the castle and gardens!
Old Wardour Castle, not to be confused with New Wardour Castle, isnt actually, nor ever was, a castle. This is again the case of a stately manor home trying to be something else, but in its ruinous state we imagine it is far grander now than it ever was fully formed. We can see why the Arundell's decided to keep the ruins as a landscape ornament for the New Wardour rather than rebuild.
This was another property which saw action during the English Civil War. As the Arundell's (hailing from Cornwall) were natural Royalists, the Parliamentarians laid siege, and Lady Blanche who was left to defend the castle by her husband who died the same month it fell, was forced to surrender as the siege meant the castle was damaged severely and became uninhabitable to those left to defend it.
When the castle was first built in 1393, it resembled more of a Chateau taking inspiration from the hexagonal shapes favoured in parts of the Continent. This made Old Wardour unique to Britain as there wasnt another like it, the add on of several guest suites was also a unique thing at the time but less so as time went on.
Despite the castle not really being a castle, it did boast a drawbridge and towers in order to defend it from enemies. The drawbridge is now null and void as the ground has settled around the caslte to form flat land whereas back in its construction period the castle was on low ridge of land with a deep ditch surrounding it.
In 1773 the banqueting house was built which is now an exhibition centre. This is a structure separate from the castle and remains intact. The grotto from 1792 was constructed from stone produced by the castle ruins and also links to the Tisbury Stone Circle which was a henge nearby that has vanished.
It's also worth mentioning that Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was filmed here so we walked in the footsteps of Alan Rickman which made us very happy.
So the first thing we did was jump headfirst into the castle itself. We made our way through the grand entrance and nipped between its bare rooms before taking the stairs to the next level. There were so many doors and entry ways that led back to the same place that we 100% went around in circles for a little while just to get a chance to explore every single thing.
Despite a lot of ceilings not being intact, or walls for that matter, when inside you really do get a sense of how grand the place was in its entirety. In its ruined state it gives a foreboding outlook, like there is something haunting the ruins. The stone is constantly damp despite the hot weather we were in, its cold in there until you reach the very top where the sun beats down on the exposed areas, and there is this general sense of being watched. The nooks and crannies we managed to squeeze ourselves into were very unwelcoming as if someone was already in there. It just felt like there was something not quite right in here, like the castle was holding a grudge at no longer being whole.
Old Wardour Castle was a magnificent ruin however, it's tall, skeletal, and looks like you'd imagine a fully explorable ruin to be. You can visit every storey of the castle without imminent danger, but there is nothing left from its life before other than the very stone you're standing on or the engravings left behind from stone masons and carpenters. Aside from the very bare bones there is nothing left, and in our opinion this makes Old Wardour one of the very best ruins we've seen so far. There's an everlasting melancholy here which goes hand in hand with the picturesque landscape. We dont get the vibe the castle was happy about being left to be a romantic view, not worth rebuilding in the eyes of the Arundell's, but it makes one hell of a view that's for sure.
Was it haunted? 100%. We didn't see anything, but the shadows within certain rooms which shifted on their own were more than just your normal shadowed areas. There was something else here, whether it be the building itself taking on a personality or someone left behind, this castle was a haunted spot for sure.
The giftshop was cute, a nice little add on with limited options but those options being just enough to tickle your fancy. Ren got her wooden keyring which kept her happy, but the staff were not massively friendly. The chap who served us was very informative and helpful to Lauren but his entire demeanour changed when Jamie joined her, not quite sure why this was, but the information soon dried up and a very unwelcoming vibe came over him. We saw the same happen to another couple where the woman came in first and her partner joined. Perhaps the man just didn't like other men, who knows!
Would we go back? 100%. We would love to give the castle our full attention another time and walk the grounds at our leisure. We were sure that there was plenty of other things we missed here but we were on a bit of a tight timescale to get to Glastonbury and see all that we had planned and fit in our Arthurian events there!
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