Ruins Of Wigmore Castle

Ruins of Wigmore Castle

This castle ruin stands as one of the largest and most important fortifications built along the Welsh border. It was probably founded in the mid-11th century by William Fitzosborn, Earl of Hereford, and was held by Ralph de Mortimer at the time of the Domesday Book Survey in 1086. The structure underwent substantial reconstruction during the early 14th century, probably under Roger Mortimer. In the mid- to late 16th century, Sir Henry Sydney repaired the castle and used it as a prison. The Harley family, who purchased the castle in 1601, are said to have dismantled it in 1643.

The ruins are constructed of sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings. The surviving remains consist of a shell-keep on a mound positioned to the north-west of the site, portions of the bailey's enclosing walls to the south-east, including three towers, a gatehouse, and a single fragment of wall near the middle of the enclosure.

The keep is roughly oval in plan and was entered from the east side. A stretch of wall on the north side features a flat buttress and terminates in a second buttress. The upper part of this wall and the rest of the surviving keep masonry dates to the 14th century, though some masonry within the structure is 12th and 13th century in date. A south tower survives with its south wall intact, which retains the embrasure of a single-light window. A west tower, which must have been at least three storeys high, contained a spiral staircase. The main curtain wall carried up to the keep mound at the east end and south side.

The north tower is 14th century in date. It retains its outward side and plinth, and two of its faces preserve the remains of window embrasures. The east tower is probably 13th century. A circular outward face with plinth survives, featuring a large window embrasure and a garde-robe shaft.

The gatehouse is 14th century. Only its central portion remains, consisting of a four-centred archway of two orders, the outer moulded and the inner order chamfered, with a portcullis groove between them. The archway is half-choked with debris. East of the archway are the remains of a small room with a west doorway, a right-angled passage, and a rubble vault. The wall west of the archway preserves the remains of a window and door and adjoins a fairly well-preserved section of curtain wall.

The south tower is 14th century, of rectangular plan and at least three storeys high with a basement and moulded plinth. The basement under the east half is approached by a square-headed doorway in the north-west angle down a flight of steps. The ground floor contains four windows and a fireplace, with the two south windows featuring cusped pointed heads. Four first-floor windows also survive. The curtain wall to the west is quite well preserved and adjoins the south-west tower, which is of similar date, plan, and height. The south wall of this tower has a plinth and second and third storey windows. The adjoining curtain wall to the north retains traces of a window, a chimney flue, and an ogee-arched doorway.

Remains of a rectangular inner enclosure survive south-east of the keep mound.

An engraving by Buck from 1732 shows little more of the building than presently survives, indicating the extent of loss that has occurred. The castle was clearly a structure of the first importance along the Welsh border frontier.