About
Old Wardour Castle in Wiltshire is one of the most architecturally distinctive and romantically picturesque castle ruins in England — a towering hexagonal structure of extraordinary design built in the 1390s and set within an eighteenth-century landscape garden that framed its ruins as a deliberate aesthetic object.
The castle was built between 1393 and 1397 by John, 5th Baron Lovell, who had spent time in France and returned with a vision of the most fashionable Continental castle design: not a military fortress primarily, but a luxurious residential castle in the French manner, designed for comfortable living and the display of aristocratic status as much as for defence.
The hexagonal plan — a six-sided design that wraps around a central hexagonal courtyard — is almost unique in England.
Castles of true hexagonal plan are exceptionally rare, and Old Wardour is the finest surviving example of this Continental-influenced form in the country. The design allowed every room to have windows on two sides, the courtyard provided light and air to the central rooms, and the overall arrangement produced a residence of genuine spaciousness and comfort within a structure that retained the visual authority and defensible character expected of a nobleman's seat.
The castle passed to the Arundell family of Wardour in the sixteenth century, becoming the principal seat of one of the great Catholic recusant dynasties of England.
The Arundells' Catholic faith brought them into constant conflict with the Tudor and Stuart states, and the castle's history during the Civil War is one of the most dramatic of any English heritage site. In 1643 Parliamentary forces besieged the castle, defended by Lady Blanche Arundell with a garrison of only twenty-five men for nine days before being forced to surrender.
In 1644 Royalist forces besieged it back, during which a substantial explosion caused severe structural damage.
This double siege left the castle in the ruined state that visitors see today. Rather than rebuild the damaged castle, the Arundells commissioned a new Palladian mansion — New Wardour Castle — nearby in the eighteenth century, and the ruins of Old Wardour were incorporated into a designed landscape garden as a romantic feature, complete with a grotto and lake.
It is this eighteenth-century picturesque setting that gives Old Wardour its particular character among English castle ruins: a building that has become an aesthetic object, managed and framed as a scene rather than merely abandoned.
English Heritage manages the site as a seasonal paid attraction.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
💡 Visitor Tips
- Old Wardour is open daily April to October but weekends only in winter (November to March) — check the English Heritage website before making a special journey outside the summer season.
- The castle is approximately 2 miles from Tisbury railway station (Waterloo to Exeter line) — walkable or a short taxi ride, making this a surprisingly accessible destination without a car.
- Walk the full circuit around the castle lake for the most atmospheric views — the reflections of the hexagonal towers in the water are the classic Old Wardour image.
- The hexagonal plan is best appreciated from above or from the courtyard level — look for the six corner towers and try to trace the original plan from the surviving masonry.
- An English Heritage membership card gives free entry and is excellent value if you plan to visit multiple EH sites in Wiltshire, which has one of the richest concentrations of EH properties in the country.
- Read about the 1643 siege and Lady Blanche Arundell before visiting — the story of her defence with twenty-five people against hundreds transforms the experience of standing in the ruined castle.
- The grotto in the hillside above the lake is worth seeking out — it is a fine example of eighteenth-century picturesque landscape design and connects to the broader aesthetic project of framing the ruins as a romantic scene.
- Combine with Stonehenge (approximately 30 miles north-east) or Salisbury Cathedral for a full day of Wiltshire heritage — the Vale of Wardour is a convenient stopping point between the two.
Highlights
The Hexagonal Castle Plan
Old Wardour Castle's most remarkable architectural feature is its hexagonal plan — a six-sided design wrapping around a central hexagonal courtyard that is almost unique in English castle architecture. True hexagonal castle plans are extraordinarily rare; Old Wardour is the finest surviving example in England and one of the very few in Europe.
The plan was directly inspired by French castle design — John, 5th Baron Lovell, had travelled in France and brought back a vision of the sophisticated residential castles being built by the French nobility in the late fourteenth century, in which the geometric regularity of the plan was as much a display of architectural learning as a military consideration.
Walking around the castle, the hexagonal towers that mark each corner of the plan are clearly legible even in the ruined state, and the central courtyard — open to the sky — communicates the spacious and light-filled quality that the original design intended.
Lady Blanche Arundell's Siege of 1643
The most celebrated episode in Old Wardour Castle's history is the siege of 1643, when Lady Blanche Arundell defended the castle against Parliamentary forces with a garrison of only twenty-five men and women for nine days before being forced to surrender. Her husband, Lord Arundell, was away with the Royalist army, and Blanche — in her sixties — commanded the defence with extraordinary determination against a Parliamentary force of several hundred.
The episode became famous throughout Royalist England as an example of female courage and Catholic loyalty, and Blanche Arundell became one of the celebrated heroines of the Royalist cause.
The castle's surrender terms were honoured by the Parliamentarians, but the building subsequently suffered severe damage in the Royalist counter-siege of 1644, reducing it to the ruin that visitors see today.
The Picturesque Landscape Setting
In the eighteenth century, rather than rebuild the damaged castle, the Arundell family incorporated the ruins into a carefully designed picturesque landscape — one of the most accomplished examples of this distinctively English aesthetic tradition. The ruins were framed by plantings of trees, a lake was created below the castle to reflect its towers, a grotto was built into the hillside, and the whole composition was arranged to be viewed as a series of picturesque scenes.
This is the setting that visitors experience today: a romantic ruin in a designed landscape, managed by English Heritage as a heritage attraction that preserves both the medieval fabric and the eighteenth-century picturesque composition.
The lake, the framing trees, and the carefully composed views of the ruined towers across the water make Old Wardour one of the most photographed and most aesthetically rewarding castle ruins in England.
The Arundell Family and Catholic Recusancy
Old Wardour Castle was from the sixteenth century the principal seat of the Arundell family of Wardour — one of the great Catholic recusant dynasties of England, who maintained their faith through the Reformation, the Elizabethan persecution of Catholics, and the Civil War at enormous personal and financial cost.
The Arundells' Catholicism brought them into repeated conflict with the Tudor and Stuart states, but they survived through a combination of wealth, aristocratic connections, and the strategic management of their religious observance. The castle's destruction in the Civil War — a direct consequence of the family's loyalty to the Crown and their faith — is the culmination of this history.
The nearby New Wardour Castle (now Cranborne Chase Academy, privately owned and visible from the public road) was the family's replacement seat in the eighteenth century.
Collections
Old Wardour Castle is an English Heritage seasonal paid site. The visitor experience centres on the ruined hexagonal castle, the picturesque landscape setting with lake and grotto, and the English Heritage interpretation. The castle is its own collection — the architectural fabric, the picturesque landscape, and the layered history from the Lovells to the Arundells to the Civil War sieges.
English Heritage provides on-site interpretation, audio guide, and guided tours on selected dates.
Castle History Interpretation
English Heritage on-site interpretation covering the hexagonal castle design, the Lovell and Arundell families, the Civil War sieges, and the picturesque landscape garden. Audio guide available.
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.