Ludlow Castle

The first structures of Ludlow Castle were built by Roger and Hugh de Lacy, sons of Walter, who was given lands in South Shropshire by William Fitzosbern, earl of Hereford.

Ludlow Castle is an excellent example of good defensive siting for a castle in that it is built in an elevated position with commanding views of the surrounding countryside. It is guarded by both the Rivers Teme and Corve and stone for the castle buildings was quarried from the site itself.

The earliest parts of Ludlow Castle; the curtain wall of the inner bailey, four flanking towers and parts of the gatehouse keep have been dated to the 11th century.

An interesting Norman chapel dating from the early 12th century has survived at Ludlow Castle. The Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene has a circular nave with an extending rectangular chancel.

During the 12th century the gatehouse was extended and converted to a four-storey keep, containing a living hall and private solar (living quarters). Later in the same century the original entrance to the castle was blocked off and a new entrance arch was made in the adjacent curtain wall. The outer bailey at Ludlow Castle was built during the second half of the 12th century and would have provided a secure area for the training and mustering of troops, as well as an area for jousting tournaments, horse grazing and space for refugees in times of war.

The North range of the castle was built in the 1320’s and replaced some earlier buildings on the site. The most important structure in this range was the Great Hall, a massive room measuring 60ft x 30ft with an undercroft (cellar) underneath. On the one side of the Great Hall was the Great Chamber Block, which would have contained the living quarters of the Lord and Lady of the castle, the Garderobe Tower (toilet) and a separate Great Kitchen.

Ludlow Castle is first mentioned by chroniclers in 1138 and the following year King Stephen besieged the castle and rescued his friend Prince Henry from a grappling iron that was thrown from the castle walls. At this time the castle was held by Joce de Dinan an enemy of the de Lacy’s.

The de Lacy family went on to hold the lordship of Ludlow Castle until the 13th century.

The castle eventually came into the possession of Geoffrey de Geneville, a French baron from Champagne, who gave the castle to his son Peter.

The castle made a useful base for Roger Mortimer of Wigmore, who had married a daughter of Peter de Geneville. Roger was the leader of a group of Barons who dethroned the unpopular Edward II in 1326. Mortimer was then created Earl of March but was deposed and executed by rivals in 1330.

When the last male in the Mortimer line died in 1425, Ludlow Castle passed to Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, who was the leader of the Yorkist army in the Wars of the Roses. This resulted in the castle being taken and sacked by the Lancastrians in 1459.

When Edward IV became King in 1461, Ludlow Castle became the property of the Crown. In 1473, Edward sent his son to Ludlow to be brought up away from the plagues and dangers of London. The nobles and gentlemen who accompanied the Prince formed a Council and this Council gradually assumed responsibility for the government of Wales and the border counties.

For more than a century Ludlow was more or less treated as the capital of Wales and its courts were busy with criminal, ecclesiastical and civil cases. This resulted in much rebuilding and refurbishment at the castle, especially in the 1550’s and 1580’s. The Council of the Marches was dissolved in 1641 but later revived, with limited powers, in 1660-1689.

Prince Edward and his younger brother Richard spent part of their childhood at Ludlow. Prince Edward was at Ludlow Castle when he heard that he had become King Edward IV after the death of his father. However, Edward was never crowned King as when he and Richard arrived in London they were imprisoned in the Tower of London and soon after were murdered and their uncle took the throne to become Richard III (some say that it was Richard who ordered his nephews untimely end).

Later Ludlow was to become the home of yet more royalty when Prince Arthur, son of Henry Tudor and brother of Henry VIII (later King) lived there with his wife. He died at Ludlow Castle in 1502 and it is said that his heart is buried there. His wife went on to remarry his brother and was known as Catherine of Aragon.

Henry VIII’s eldest daughter Mary also spent 3 winters at Ludlow when she was a young girl.

Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries Ludlow Castle was held by the Crown, except for a brief period during the English Civil War and the subsequent Commonwealth.

During the English Civil War Ludlow was a Royalist stronghold. In 1646 the town and castle were besieged by a strong Parliamentarian force led by Colonel Birch. There was some fighting on the outskirts of the town and some of the suburbs suffered from fire damage but the castle was surrendered by negotiation.

After 1669 the castle was abandoned, as part of the policy of the new government of William and Mary, to centralise control of the whole of England and Wales in London.

In 1772 Daniel Defoe visited Ludlow as part of his tour of England and described the castle as being the ‘very perfection of decay’.

The people of the town had looted the castle for valuable building materials and many of the rooms were soon roof-less and open to the elements. In the 1760’s the government considered demolishing the castle but the costs were too high and they leased it to the Earl of Powis in 1771. A later earl of Powis bought the castle in 1811.

Today Ludlow Castle stands at the heart of the town and is open to the public.