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ld Wardour Castle was built at the end of the fourteenth century by John Lovel. The land had been owned by the St Martin family, but when Sir Lawrence de St Martin died in 1385 it was handed over to Lord Lovel for reasons unknown. Using the master mason William of Wynford, Lovel built the oddly shaped castle in 1393. The main section of the castle is hexagonal with a hexagonal inner court and a central well. The front section of the castle is rectangular that intersects the main hexagon and contains the Great Hall and large windows. The back half of the castle was destroyed in 1644 during the English Civil War, when explosions were set off underneath. The castle now belongs to English Heritage. (Coming soon, A Medieval Mystery
)Mini Timeline

1393    Construction of Wardour Castle
   The work on Wardour Castle (now Old Wardour Castle) was begun in this year. The architect in charge may have been William Wynford who was responsible for the changes made to Winchester Cathedral around about the same time. The castle is very unusual in that is hexagonal and aligned to the north-east. 
Early Modern Period (1500-1800) - Under Construction
1643  May  Destruction of (Old) Wardour Castle
   (Old) Wardour Castle was besieged by Sir Edward Hungerford and Edmund Ludlow for the Parliamentarians searching for Royalists. Lady Blanche Arundel within the castle lasted a week before surrendering. When Lord Arundell returned and found the castle in Parliamentarian control he laid siege to his own castle and had a mine detonated underneath it destroying the complete rear section of the building. 
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The map shows the location of this medieval building and other buildings close to it. Coastline and rivers nearby are also shown. Click on the icons to see more information about the medieval place.Select the 'Centre Map Here' option to move the selected place to the centre of the map. Zoom in and outusing the small portcullis icons at the top right of the map.

Other castles are shown as small square icons.
Nearby PlaceKm
Salisbury Cathedral20.68
Old Sarum20.84
Nunney Castle28.05
Farleigh Hungerford Castle34.20
Sherborne Old Castle30.51
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