Ludlow Castle, the standing structural remains

Ludlow Castle is an enclosure castle begun in the late 11th century and converted into a tower keep castle in the early 12th century. The castle is constructed of a variety of local stones. It appears that the greenish-grey flaggy calcareous siltstones underlying the site were used in its initial phase, with local sandstones being used thereafter.

The castle consists of an elliptical inner bailey in the north-west corner of the site, representing the earliest area of development, with the outer bailey, created in the second half of the 12th century, to the south and east.

The Inner Bailey

The curtain wall of the inner bailey incorporates four mural towers and the former gatehouse, all thought to have been constructed by 1115. Three of the four towers are open at the back and would originally have contained wooden scaffolding supporting look-out and fighting platforms. The fourth tower, known as the Postern Tower, on the western side of the enclosure, has small ground-floor postern doorways on its north and east sides.

The former gatehouse, situated at the south-eastern part of the enclosure, is rectangular in plan and was originally three storeys in height. Remaining in the ground floor of the building is part of a wall arcade, thought to be late 11th century, with ornamented capitals. In the early 12th century a fourth storey was added to provide more domestic accommodation, thus converting the gatehouse into a tower keep, known as the Great Tower.

In the later 12th century the original gatehouse entrance passage was blocked (the location of the former arch remains visible on the south elevation) and an archway was cut through the adjacent part of the curtain wall to the north-east, reached by a stone bridge. This archway was partially infilled and a smaller arch constructed in the 14th century. Access to the upper floors of the tower is by a spiral stair to the east, reached by an ornamented doorcase. The Tudor arch has a trefoiled lintel flanked by cusped panelling and trefoiled lintel, which also gives access to rooms in the Judges' Lodgings. On the first floor is the hall, with a chamber and garderobe to the west. In the second half of the 15th century the north wall of the Great Tower was rebuilt and internal floors added to create new rooms lit by enlarged windows.

Adjoining the Great Tower, in the south-west section of the inner bailey, is the Inmost Bailey, a walled enclosure constructed in the 12th and 13th centuries to provide greater security and privacy to those living in the Great Tower. There is a well within this enclosure surrounded by a low stone wall.

The Chapel of St Mary Magdalene

Located in the north-eastern sector of the elliptical enclosure of the inner bailey are the remains of the Chapel of St Mary Magdalene. This was built in the first half of the 12th century, probably by Gilbert de Lacy, and was remodelled in the 16th century, probably in two phases. In the first phase, thought to have been undertaken around 1502 for the installation of Arthur, Prince of Wales, a first floor was inserted in the circular nave, together with additional openings, including a first-floor doorway which gave access to a passage linking the chapel with the Great Chamber Block to the north. In the second phase, during the presidency of the Council in the Marches of Sir Henry Sidney (1560–86), the original presbytery and chancel were taken down and a new chancel, or chapel, built, stretching as far as the curtain wall.

The crenellated circular nave, which measures 8.3 metres in diameter internally, survives to its full height as a roofless shell, and contains much original carving to the round-headed order arches of the door openings, with chevron and billet mouldings, and to the internal blind arcade with a variety of capitals and moulded arches.

The Outer Bailey

Since the late 12th century, the castle site has been entered through the two-storeyed gatehouse within the eastern part of the curtain wall of the outer bailey. The wall originally had two adjoining rectangular mural towers of which the one to the north of the gatehouse survives as a standing structure; this, together with the adjacent section of the curtain wall form part of the Castle House built in the 18th century (listed separately at Grade I).

Protruding from the curtain wall defining the western side of the outer bailey are the remains of a semi-circular tower known as Mortimer's Tower, possibly built in the early 13th century. This originally consisted of a ground-floor entrance passage, with two floors above, and was used as the postern entrance to the outer bailey until the 15th century.

In the south-west corner of the outer bailey are the remains of St Peter's Chapel, originally a free-standing rectangular structure, founded by Roger Mortimer to celebrate his escape from the Tower of London in 1324, following his rebellion against Edward II. The chapel served as the Court House and offices of the Council in the Marches, for which an adjacent building to the west was constructed. The south-east corner of the chapel is now attached to a wall which completes the enclosure of the outer bailey's south-west corner. In the north wall of the chapel is a blocked two-light window, enlarged at the bottom when a floor was inserted for the court house; a second original window towards the eastern end now contains a first-floor blocked doorway.

The Great Hall and Private Apartments

At the end of the 13th century or in the early 14th century an extensive building programme was initiated, replacing existing structures within the inner bailey with a grand new range of domestic buildings, built along the inside of the north section of the Norman curtain wall. The construction of these new buildings indicates the changing role of Ludlow Castle from military stronghold to a more comfortable residence and a seat of political power, reflecting the more peaceful conditions in the region following the conquest of Wales by Edward I.

The first buildings to be completed were the Great Hall and the adjoining Solar Block (private apartments). The Great Hall, which was used for ceremonial and public occasions, consisted of a first floor over a large undercroft, reached through a moulded pointed arch in the south elevation. The Hall was lit on both south and north sides by three pointed-arched windows with sunk chamfers and 'Y' tracery formed of paired cusped trefoil-headed lights, under hoodmoulds; these originally had seats, now partially surviving. The central south window was converted to a fireplace, replacing the louver which formerly covered the open fire towards the east of the Hall, its position indicated by elaborate corbels. At the west end, a series of openings lead into the Solar Block, only one of these (that to the north) being of the primary phase. Within the Hall, at the western end, is a timber viewing platform, which is not of special interest.

The Solar Block is thought to have been begun as a two-storey building, and raised to three storeys shortly afterwards, at which time the adjacent North-West Tower was raised, with the new Closet Tower being built in the angle between the two. Each of the three floors of the Solar Block extended into the North-West Tower, with each being linked to a room in the Closet Tower. All three floors of the Solar were heated, the ground floor having a fireplace which originally had a stone hood; the first-floor room has hooded fireplace, on nearly triangular-sectioned jambs; the room above has a plainer hooded fireplace. The windows include original openings with 'Y' tracery and trefoil-headed lights, similar to those in the Hall, and a ground-floor mullioned window probably dating from the late 16th century.

The Great Chamber Block and Garderobe Tower

In the early 14th century two additional buildings containing more private apartments were constructed by Richard Mortimer. The three-storeyed Great Chamber Block was built in about 1320 next to the Great Hall to balance the Solar Block to the west of the Hall. The connecting four-storeyed Garderobe Tower, which projects from the curtain wall of the inner bailey, was also probably built about the same time. As in the Hall and Solar blocks, the floors are now lost but features in the walls remain to indicate layout and function.

The main entrance to this block is through a recessed doorway in the south-west corner, with a pointed two-light window above. The undercroft was heated, and is lit by two two-light windows with stone side seats in the south wall. The tracery of the eastern of these windows has been lost. The first-floor main room, or 'Great Chamber', contains a grand hooded fireplace carried on a fourfold series of corbels; to either side of the fireplace are large head corbels with leafwork. The Tudor transomed and mullioned window probably replaced an earlier window. The upper room also has a large hooded fireplace, and was lit principally by a large trefoil-headed window with head-stopped hoodmould in the southern wall.

Tudor and Later Developments

Following the establishment of the headquarters for the Council in the Marches at Ludlow, new buildings were constructed and many existing buildings changed their use. Within the inner bailey the main room in the Great Chamber Block became the council chamber, with additional chambers above. A new adjoining residential block, now called the Tudor Lodgings, was built to the east, replacing earlier structures. The block consisted of two sets of lodgings both being of three storeys with attic rooms above. The south wall of this block cuts across openings in the east wall of the Great Chamber Block. Between the lodgings, projecting from the south wall, is a circular stair tower, entered through an ogee-headed arch. The windows in the south elevation are mullioned; several have been blocked. In the north wall of the western lodging, at ground-floor level, is an opening with double trefoil head, having a divided light above. Otherwise, the features of this range are plain, with pointed door openings, and straight lintels to fireplaces.

As the power of the Council grew, further domestic accommodation was needed. To the east of the entrance within the inner bailey, a three-storeyed range, known as the Judges Lodgings, was completed in 1581. On the south side, this building extends the curtain wall upwards, with two gables, and piercing for fenestration, the earlier arched entrance to the inner bailey becoming visually part of the newer building, with rooms above; stone arms set immediately over the archway dated 1581 commemorate the Presidency of the Council of Sir Henry Sidney. Rooms set above the arch leave a gate-passage leading through a second archway to the inner bailey, and giving access to both the Great Keep and the Judges' Lodgings. The rooms above the gate-passage appear to have been accessed by the embellished Tudor-arched doorway in the Keep at the north end of the passage. The north side of the Judges' Lodgings, within the inner bailey, has a polygonal stair turret (which originally had a pyramidal roof), with mullioned and transomed eight-light windows set regularly to either side. Within, some indication is given of the arrangement and appearance of the rooms by the survival of numerous fireplaces of red sandstone backed by brick set in herringbone pattern. The adjoining building to the east, originally two-storeyed, is thought to date from the 17th century.

Other developments during the 16th century included changes to the south-west corner tower, enclosed within the inmost bailey, with the installation of a large oven at ground-floor level, with residential rooms above; the tower became known as the Oven Tower. In 1522 the Porter's Lodge was built in the outer bailey to the south of the gatehouse. The shell of this building now contains the castle shop; the modern structure and fittings of the shop are not of special interest. Also dating from 1522 is the Prison, adjoining to the south, which retains square-headed windows with moulded frames and hoodmoulds, and the stable block, completed in 1597, with mullioned windows. Like the porter's lodge, these buildings remain as incomplete shells.