Photo: Ludlow Castle by Ian Capper, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
About this place
Ludlow Castle stands on a high promontory above the River Teme in Shropshire, its ruined walls dominating the market town below.
One of the first stone castles built in England after the Norman Conquest, it later served as the seat of the Council of Wales and the Marches.
The castle remains open to the public, allowing visitors to walk through the inner and outer baileys and climb towers that once housed royalty, judges and Tudor nobility.
Read more on WikipediaHistory
Probably founded by Walter de Lacy soon after the Norman Conquest, the castle changed hands repeatedly during the 12th-century civil war known as the Anarchy. Roger Mortimer acquired it in 1301, and it passed to Richard, Duke of York in 1425, becoming a Yorkist stronghold in the Wars of the Roses. When Edward IV took the throne in 1461, the castle reverted to the Crown. The Earls of Powis began leasing the castle in 1772, bought it in 1811, and it remains in the family's ownership through the Powis Castle Estate.
Architecture
The castle grew in stages from an early stone keep and Great Tower into a substantial complex. Geoffrey de Geneville rebuilt parts of the inner bailey in the mid-13th century, and Roger Mortimer extended the buildings further after 1301.
Worth knowing
The castle hosted the first performance of John Milton's masque Comus in the 17th century. It was later besieged and taken by Parliamentarian forces during the English Civil War in 1646.
Facilities
Plan your visit
Nearest station: Ludlow Rail Station (0.4 miles)
Nearby properties
St Bartholomew's Church
View St Bartholomew's Church on heritage mapWigmore Abbey
View Wigmore Abbey on heritage mapHistoric places nearby
Within 5 miles of Ludlow Castle there are 1 historic properties, including 1 church.
Within 10 miles of Ludlow Castle there are 9 historic properties, including 3 castles, 3 historic houses and 2 historic buildings, across English Heritage, Historic Houses and National Trust sites.
Within 20 miles of Ludlow Castle there are 40 historic properties, including 12 historic buildings, 10 historic houses and 9 churchs, across English Heritage, Historic Houses and Churches Conservation Trust sites.
Facts
A Norman stronghold that later governed Wales, still owned by the family that bought it in 1811.
- Type
- historic house
- Location
- Shropshire, England
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