Wareham Castle

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Illustration of the remains of the castle and walls of Wareham in 1888. The red dotted line shows the boundaries of the inner and outer courtyards.

Wareham Castle is a ruined castle in the market Wareham in the English county of Dorset .

history

11-14 century

Wareham Castle was built in the southwest corner of the ancient Anglo-Saxon earthworks that surround the city. It was a moth with an inner and outer courtyard, which was protected by wooden defenses and a moat . The original size of the mound is not known; Records from the 18th and 19th centuries suggest that it must have had a diameter of 17-18 meters. The exact time of construction is also unknown, but it is believed that this was soon after the Norman conquest of England in 1066, although there is no evidence of this. If the castle was built soon after 1066, its construction probably required the demolition of houses in part of the market. The decision to locate the castle was linked to the existence of a previous Anglo-Saxon residence at this point.

Robert Beaumont controlled the castle in 1188 and passed it on to Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester , who had work carried out there in 1137. A small donjon with a square floor plan, a side length of 11.25 meters and pilaster buttresses at the corners was built from quarry stone on top of the mound, probably at the beginning of the 12th century. The courtyard was protected by a stone curtain wall that was said to have been up to 1.5 meters thick. During the Civil War of Anarchy in the 1140s, Wareham Castle was on the border of the territories of the two heir to the throne, King Stephen and Empress Matilda . There was also the regional mint. Robert supported Matilda and the castle belonged sometimes to him and sometimes to King Stefan; Wareham Market was believed to have been burned down by King Stefan's forces. At the end of the hostilities, Corfe Castle had taken on the role of the most important fortress in the region.

After 1154 and after the end of the Civil War, the castle was under the control of the Earls of Gloucester. The economic importance of the market declined in the late 12th and 13th centuries, although in 1207 the castle, which had been confiscated by King John Ohneland , was repaired and used by the monarch as a relay station on the way to Corfe Castle. After the reign of Johann Ohneland, Wareham Castle fell to the de Clare family , who paid little attention to the castle, and the moat in the outer courtyard was filled in at the beginning of the 13th century. The river silted up and the port of the market lost its importance; trading instead focused on Poole . In the 14th century the market was in economic decline.

15-21 century

It is not known when exactly the castle was finally abandoned, but in the 18th century new buildings encroached on the eastern boundary of the castle grounds; the rest of that land was an open space called Castle Green . During the 19th century houses were built around the base of the mound, which was then fully built in at the end of the 19th century. In 1911 a mansion called Castle Close was built on top of the mound. This required extensive changes to the shape of the mound, which today is 76 meters in diameter at the base and 37 meters at the top. Most of the moat has been filled in; the short remnants are 21 meters wide and 6.7 meters deep. The foundations of the donjon have been preserved on the mound to this day; Pound Lane and Trinity Lane run along the boundaries of the inner and outer courtyard .

The remains of the castle and the fortifications of the market are considered a Scheduled Monument .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England: Wareham Lady St. Mary . British History Online. 1970. Retrieved November 22, 2016.
  2. ^ Dorset Towns Survey: Wareham . Dorset County Council, Dorchester 2011. pp. 29, 34.
  3. ↑ James D. Mackenzie: The Castles of England: Their Story and Structure . Volume II. Macmillan, New York 1896. p. 253.
  4. ↑ `` Dorset Towns Survey: Wareham ''. Dorset County Council, Dorchester 2011.
  5. ↑ a b c d Dorset Towns Survey: Wareham . Dorset County Council, Dorchester 2011. p. 29.
  6. ^ Dorset Towns Survey: Wareham . Dorset County Council, Dorchester 2011. pp. 29, 31.
  7. ^ Dorset Towns Survey: Wareham . Dorset County Council, Dorchester 2011. p. 31.
  8. ^ A b c Part of the Defenses of the Anglo-Saxon Fortified Center of Wareham and Part of the Motte and Bailey Castle with Shell Keep . Historic England. Retrieved November 22, 2016.
  9. ^ A b Dorset Towns Survey: Wareham . Dorset County Council, Dorchester 2011. p. 33.
  10. ^ Dorset Towns Survey: Wareham . Dorset County Council, Dorchester 2011. pp. 33, 36.
  11. ^ Dorset Towns Survey: Wareham . Dorset County Council, Dorchester 2011. pp. 39, 41.
  12. ^ Dorset Towns Survey: Wareham . Dorset County Council, Dorchester 2011. p. 45.
  13. ^ A b Dorset Towns Survey: Wareham . Dorset County Council, Dorchester 2011. p. 34.

Coordinates: 50 ° 41 ′ 3.3 "  N , 2 ° 6 ′ 43.8"  W.