Lulworth Castle, in East Lulworth,

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

, England, situated south of the village of

Wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...

, is an early 17th-century hunting lodge erected in the style of a revival fortified castle, one of only five extant

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...

or Jacobean buildings of this type. It is listed with

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

as a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

. It is also

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. The 18th-century

Adam style The Adam style (also called Adamesque or the Style of the Brothers Adam) is an 18th-century neoclassical style of interior design and architecture, as practised by Scottish architect William Adam and his sons, of whom Robert (1728–1792) and ...

interior of the stone building was devastated by fire in 1929, but has now been restored and serves as a

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

. The castle stands in Lulworth Park on the Lulworth Estate. The park and gardens surrounding the castle are

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

with Historic England.

History

The foundations for Lulworth Castle were laid in 1588, and it was completed in 1609, supposedly designed by

Inigo Jones Inigo Jones (15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was an English architect who was the first significant Architecture of England, architect in England in the early modern era and the first to employ Vitruvius, Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmet ...

. It was built as a hunting lodge by Thomas Howard, 3rd Viscount Howard of Bindon, a grandson of the 3rd Duke of Norfolk. In 1607 Viscount Bindon wrote to

Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, (1 June 156324 May 1612) was an English statesman noted for his direction of the government during the Union of the Crowns, as Tudor England gave way to Stuart period, Stuart rule (1603). Lord Salisbury ser ...

, crediting him with the origins of the design:

"If this little pile in Lulworth Park shall prove pretty or worth the labour bestowed in the erecting of it, I will acknowledge, as the truth is, that your powerful speech to me at Bindon laid the first foundation of the pile in my mind, which ever since has laboured for a speedy finishing for the contentment of those for whose further liking of that place the care is taken".

According to the NHLE listing, the building was subsequently remodelled 1609-11 for Thomas, Lord Suffolk; remodelled again in 1641 for Humphrey Weld; in the early 18th century by the Bastard brothers of

Blandford Forum Blandford Forum ( ) is a market town in Dorset, England, on the River Stour, Dorset, River Stour, north-west of Poole. It had a population of 10,355 at the United Kingdom 2021 census, 2021 census. The town is notable for its Georgian archit ...

for the then owner, Edward Weld; and in the 1780s by Catholic architect John Tasker for Thomas Weld. Tasker also built the Roman Catholic chapel in the grounds. Pevsner's assessment of the castle building two hundred years later views it as a Jacobean case of

one-upmanship Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, individ ...

among wealthy landowners whose residential needs are already satisfied elsewhere, hence a series of " ' mock castles', such as the Elizabethan castellated house ''par excellence'' that is Longford Castle" which probably inspired Bindon. 6808 29 Lulworth Castle

In 1641, Humphrey Weld, a grandson of Sir Humphrey Weld (died 1610), purchased it from Howard's heir, Lord Howard de Walden. The castle was seized by the

Roundhead Roundheads were the supporters of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War (1642–1651). Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I of England and his supporters, known as the Cavaliers or Royalists, who ...

s during the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

, who used it as a garrison. Weld regained the property after the war finished and held on to it despite growing debts. Having married off his only daughter to an earl, Humphrey chose his catholic nephew, William Weld as his successor. William struggled with near insolvency, but partially rescued the estate finances by ensuring his son, Humphrey III (died 1722), married well into the Simeons family. Margaret Simeons and her parents helped out with a dowry and managed the estate after she was widowed. Humphrey was succeeded by their son, Edward Weld (Senior) who had the means to decorate the interiors of the castle, build extensions and lay out the grounds, despite personal legal difficulties he managed to overcome. Thomas Weld, Edward's youngest son, eventually inherited the property after his eldest brother, also

Edward Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-S ...

, died as a result of a riding accident in 1775. Twenty-five-year-old Thomas set about refurbishing the interiors in

. He enriched the collection of books in the magnificent library, a few of which are extant. He also entertained

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

at Lulworth. Thomas and his wife Mary produced fifteen children, most of whom survived, and together with their descendants were able to retain Lulworth as the family seat into the 21st century. Following the French Revolution, surviving members of the

French royal family France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions. Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I, king of the Fra ...

were invited to use Lulworth as one of their residences-in-exile. Later

Charles X of France Charles X (Charles Philippe; 9 October 1757 – 6 November 1836) was King of France from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. An uncle of the uncrowned Louis XVII and younger brother of reigning kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, he supported th ...

and family also stayed there briefly, following the

July Revolution The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution (), Second French Revolution, or ("Three Glorious ays), was a second French Revolution after French Revolution, the first of 1789–99. It led to the overthrow of King Cha ...

of 1830 on their way to

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

St Mary's Chapel, Lulworth

Thomas Weld built a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church dedicated to St. Mary to serve as the family chapel in the grounds of the castle in 1786. Pevsner relates that he needed permission from

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

on condition that it did not look like a church from outside. It was to be the first

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

to be built in England since the time of the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

. It was designed by John Tasker in the form of a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...

at a cost of £2,380. The building has been

. On 15 August 1790 John Carroll, an American Jesuit friend of Thomas, was consecrated bishop by Bishop Charles Walmesley, in the chapel of Lulworth Castle. Carroll had been named the first Catholic bishop in the United States (as Bishop of Baltimore) in 1789, and he came to Walmseley for Episcopal Consecration.The American Catholic quarterly review, Volume 14
Lulworth Chapel, Bishop Carroll and Bishop Walmesley The next episcopal consecration took place there on 19 December of the same year when John Douglass was consecrated bishop of The London District (which included the home counties, the West Indies with the exception of Trinidad, and the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey) by

William Gibson William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as cyberpunk. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his ear ...

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Acanthus, and Vicar Apostolic of the Northern District.Ward, Bernard. ''Catholic London a Century Ago'', Catholic Truth Society, 1905, p. 62
/ref>

Restoration

The castle was gutted by fire on 29 August 1929 and was left as a roofless ruin, the family building a new residence for themselves nearby. In the 1970s, restoration work began with the help of

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

. The restoration, finished in 1998, included a new roof and restored surviving walls in the interior, but no new internal walls or replacements for the destroyed upper floors were constructed. In 1986 the Baltimore-born organ builder William Drake restored the 1780 Seede organ at the Roman Catholic Chapel at Lulworth Castle, a project that attracted attention internationally. The castle is still owned by the Weld family and is a tourist attraction, holding medieval-themed events. Part of the Lulworth Estate is in use as an MoD firing range as well as a wildlife conservation area. Since 2017, the site has been used as the location for the

Bestival Bestival was a four-day music festival held in the south of England. The name Bestival is a portmanteau of the words best and festival. It had been held annually in the late summer since 2004 at Robin Hill on the Isle of Wight. In 2017 the festi ...

music festival, with the castle's foreground being the location for the main "Castle" stage.

References

Bibliography

* C. M. Antony. "Lulworth Castle: Its History and Memories." ''The Catholic Historical Review'', Vol. 1, No. 3 (Oct., 1915), pp. 243-257 * Berkeley, J. ''Lulworth and the Welds.'' Gillingham: Blackmore, 1971. * Manco, Jean, Greenhalf, David and Girouard, Mark. "Lulworth Castle in the Seventeenth Century". ''Architectural History'', Vol. 33, (1990), pp. 29–59. * Manco, Jean and Kelly, Francis. "Lulworth Castle from 1700." ''Architectural History'', Vol. 34, (1991), pp. 145-170 * ''The Weld family & Lulworth''. Wareham: Lulworth Castle. 2004. * Newth, John. "One of Dorset’s grandest and most interesting country houses - The history of Lulworth Castle is bound up with the stories of the Weld family and of one of the most important estates in South Dorset. John Newth has been to visit.". Dorset Life, April 2015. Wiew on line

Gallery

Image:Lulworth Castle LCCN2017659723.jpg, Lulworth Castle in the park Image:Lulworth Castle, Triangular Lodges - geograph.org.uk - 505210.jpg, Lulworth Castle, Triangular Lodges Image:Lulworth Castle stables (1932).jpg, Lulworth Castle stables (1932) Image:Lulworth Castle Interior 032.jpg, Roof from interior Image:Lulworth Castle Interior 01.jpg, Castle Interior Image:Lulworth Castle Interior 04.jpg, Castle kitchen Image:Lulworth Castle Interior 03.jpg, Castle vaulted cellar

External links

The Lulworth Estate website
{{coord, 50, 38, 15, N, 2, 12, 38, W, region:GB-DOR_type:landmark, display=title 1609 establishments in England Castles in Dorset Scheduled monuments in Dorset Houses completed in 1609 Jacobean architecture in the United Kingdom Historic house museums in Dorset Hunting lodges Tower houses Isle of Purbeck Grade I listed buildings in Dorset Grade I listed castles Grade II listed parks and gardens in Dorset Charles X of France