Wigmore Castle

The village of Wigmore is in north-west Herefordshire on the A4110, about 8 miles south-west of Ludlow and 21 miles north of Hereford.
The castle is on the hillside above the village reached by a footpath from near the church.
SO 408693

Article by Paul Remfry
For more photographs and detail on the history of Wigmore Castle see
http://www.castlewales.com/wigmore.html
http://www.castles99.ukprint.com/Essays/England/Midlands/wigmore.html

Wigmore castle stands a few miles from the current boundary between England and Wales. This, one of the largest of castles, was founded by Earl William Fitz Osbern in the period between his being made Earl of Hereford, soon after Christmas 1066 and his death at the battle of Cassel in Flanders on 22 February 1071. The castle was built over the lands of two Saxons who lost their estates during the Norman conquest of England. After Earl William’s death his son, Roger of Breteiul was imprisoned for life in 1075 after a failed rebellion against the Conqueror.

By 1086 King William I had granted the fortress to Ralph Mortimer (d1115) as the caput* of a series of estates that were later to be known as the barony or honour of Wigmore. According to the Wigmore genealogy Ralph had obtained the castle by besieging Edric Silvaticus within the fortress. If this refers to the rebellion of Earl Roger, which is possible, this would date the Mortimer’s acquisition of Wigmore to 1075. From then until 1425 the castle remained the cradle of the Mortimer family, although the fortress was increasingly eclipsed from 1308 by Ludlow castle which became the Mortimer’s new seat of government in the Welsh Marches.

In the Civil War of 1642-46 Wigmore castle was patched up and placed in a state of defence, but it became too difficult to hold securely and was therefore ‘slighted’, ending its long and noble career. The castle is approached from the east through outworks or an outer bailey, the main entrance to the castle being a fourteenth-century gatehouse, to either side of which are mural towers. Beyond is a rectangular platform with traces of buildings, and above this stands the upper enclosure, with part of its curtain wall surviving on the north side, and at the far end stood the main tower, of which little remains.

*The Latin word caput, meaning literally “head”