Wareham Castle

Wareham Castle stands in the south-west corner of the old Anglo-Saxon earthworks in the town of Wareham, Dorset. The town itself began as a Roman settlement beside the River Frome and became one of the most important Anglo-Saxon burhs by the end of the 9th century. These burhs were built by King Alfred the Great and his son Edward the Elder to defend Wessex, with Wareham’s defences covering up to 90 acres. The earthwork bank and ditch were later faced with timber, then stone, and four gates gave entry to the town. A tax system supported the burhs, with 1,600 hides allocated to maintain 2,200 yards of ramparts. The castle was built as a motte with inner and outer baileys, probably after the Norman Conquest. A square keep, 37 feet across, stood on the motte, and the bailey was protected by a stone curtain wall up to 5 feet thick. During the civil war known as The Anarchy, the castle changed hands several times between supporters of King Stephen and the Empress Matilda. By the 14th century, the port had declined and the town’s economy stagnated. The earls of Gloucester and Clare paid little attention to the castle, and the outer bailey ditch was filled in early in the 13th century. Today, the motte is enclosed and topped by a villa called Castle Close, built in 1911. The foundations of the keep still survive within the motte, and the lines of the baileys are traced by local lanes. The Anglo-Saxon town walls remain in places up to 55 feet across and 17 feet high, though parts have been lost or altered over time. Excavations in the 1950s revealed more about the early defences, and the remains are protected as a scheduled monument. Castle Green, an open area beside the motte, offers a quiet place to walk among the traces of Wareham’s past.