Best Castle in Wiltshire, England - Map and Reviews

Old Sarum Castle is one of England's most atmospheric and historically layered ancient sites, rising dramatically from the chalk downland just north of Salisbury in Wiltshire. Managed by English Heritage, it occupies the summit of a great oval hill that was fortified and inhabited for thousands of years, making it among the most continuously used hillforts in Britain. The castle itself sits within the earthwork ramparts of an Iron Age hillfort, later reused and transformed by Romans, Saxons, Normans, and medieval occupants, giving the site a rare depth of historical resonance. Visitors who make the climb are rewarded not only with substantial Norman ruins but with sweeping views across the Wiltshire countryside that stretch on clear days as far as the spire of Salisbury Cathedral — a cathedral whose own existence is intimately connected to Old Sarum's decline. The history of Old Sarum stretches back at least to the Iron Age, around 400 BCE, when the natural hill was enclosed by a massive circular earthwork with a deep ditch and high bank. The Romans used the site, probably as a road junction and settlement called Sorviodunum, and it remained significant through the Saxon period as a fortified burh known as Searobyrig. The Norman Conquest transformed it decisively: William the Conqueror is recorded as having paid off his army here in 1070, and the Normans constructed a royal castle within the hillfort's inner enclosure, along with a cathedral begun under Bishop Osmund in 1092. The first cathedral was damaged by a violent storm just days after its consecration, a detail that seems almost too dramatic to be coincidental but is well attested in historical sources. A rebuilt and enlarged cathedral followed, but friction between the cathedral clergy and the castle garrison — disputes over access to water, exposure to the winds, and the garrison's tendency to interfere with religious life — eventually led the bishops to petition the Pope to relocate. In 1220, the foundation stone of the new Salisbury Cathedral was laid in the valley below, and Old Sarum's cathedral was gradually demolished, its stone carted away for use elsewhere. The town that had grown up within the ramparts was steadily abandoned over the following centuries. The physical character of Old Sarum is striking and slightly otherworldly. The great earthwork banks and ditches of the outer enclosure are imposing at ground level, with grassy slopes rising steeply on all sides. Inside these outer ramparts, a further inner enclosure contains the remains of the Norman castle — a circular motte with the foundations of a keep at its summit — and the clearly marked footprint of the vanished cathedral, whose nave and transepts can be followed in outline through the cut turf and exposed stone foundations. The ruins are made of pale limestone and flint, weathered to a soft grey, and in low sunlight they cast long shadows across the cropped grass. The wind is almost always present, sometimes fiercely so, rushing up the open flanks of the hill and making the site feel genuinely exposed and elemental. The sound environment shifts with the wind — sometimes a low moan across the earthworks, sometimes a rush that overwhelms all other noise — and on quieter days birdsong from the surrounding farmland carries clearly up to the summit. The surrounding landscape is classically southern English chalk country: rolling agricultural fields, hedgerows, and the broad shallow valley of the River Avon threading south toward Salisbury. The city of Salisbury is clearly visible from the hilltop, its cathedral spire — at 123 metres the tallest in Britain — rising above the rooftops in a way that makes the historical connection between the two places viscerally obvious. On very clear days, the chalk ridge of the North Wessex Downs is visible to the north. The nearby A345 road runs along the eastern edge of the site, and the broader area contains a concentration of prehistoric and historic monuments, including Stonehenge roughly ten miles to the northwest, making Old Sarum a natural stop on any circuit of the region's heritage landmarks. From a practical standpoint, Old Sarum is straightforward to visit. There is a car park at the foot of the hill, and English Heritage operates the site with a ticket office at the entrance; the site is open year-round, though hours vary seasonally and English Heritage members enter free. The walk from the car park to the hilltop is a moderate uphill climb on firm paths, taking around ten to fifteen minutes at a comfortable pace; the terrain is generally accessible for reasonably mobile visitors but is not suitable for wheelchairs or pushchairs given the gradients and uneven ground at the summit. The site is well signposted from central Salisbury, lying about two miles to the north via the A345. There is no bus service directly to the gate, but the site is reachable on foot or by bicycle from Salisbury via footpaths and cycle routes. The best time to visit is on a clear day when the views are at their finest, and early morning or late afternoon visits in spring or autumn offer the most evocative light and the fewest crowds. Among the more unusual stories attached to Old Sarum is its status as perhaps the most notorious of England's rotten boroughs before the Great Reform Act of 1832. Despite having no permanent residents by the eighteenth century — the hilltop was entirely uninhabited — Old Sarum nevertheless returned two Members of Parliament, its electorate consisting of a handful of landowners who controlled the votes. The borough was so flagrant an example of parliamentary corruption that it became a central exhibit in the reformers' case for democratic change, eventually losing its representation in 1832. William Pitt the Elder, who became one of Britain's most celebrated Prime Ministers, first entered Parliament as one of Old Sarum's members in 1735. The irony of one of England's most powerful political careers beginning in what was essentially a ghost town elected by no real constituency is not lost on historians, and gives Old Sarum a footnote in constitutional history that sits alongside its more ancient claims to fame.

Ludgershall Castle is a ruined royal castle and hunting palace situated in the village of Ludgershall in Wiltshire, England. It stands as one of the more underappreciated medieval monuments in the south of England, an English Heritage site that offers visitors a genuinely atmospheric encounter with a place that was once a favoured retreat of medieval English royalty. Though its walls no longer rise to their original height and much of its former grandeur has been reclaimed by grass and time, the site retains a commanding presence and a sense of layered history that rewards those who take the time to visit. Entry is free, which makes it something of a hidden gem among the region's heritage offerings. The castle's origins date to the late eleventh century, shortly after the Norman Conquest. It was likely founded by Edward of Salisbury, a powerful Norman lord, and was built as a motte-and-bailey fortification in the classic style of early Norman castle construction. By the twelfth century, the site had passed into royal hands and became increasingly significant as a hunting lodge and palace, owing to its proximity to the vast medieval hunting forests of Chute and Savernake. Henry I, Henry II, and King John all made use of the castle, and it became a place where the court could retreat for the pleasures of the hunt. King John in particular was known to be fond of the place, visiting on multiple occasions during his troubled reign. The castle was substantially developed in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, with the addition of towers, a great hall, and other domestic ranges befitting its status as a royal residence rather than purely a military stronghold. After the thirteenth century, the castle fell into gradual decline as royal taste and administrative priorities shifted elsewhere. Edward I and Edward II made occasional use of it, but by the fourteenth century it had largely been abandoned as a functioning royal residence. The stonework was progressively robbed out over subsequent centuries, its dressed stone recycled for other local building projects — a fate shared by countless medieval structures across England. By the post-medieval period it had become the picturesque ruin it remains today, its earthworks and flint rubble walls standing quietly at the edge of the modern village. Physically, the site is defined by its impressive earthworks — substantial raised banks and ditches that speak clearly to the original defensive intent of the castle layout — alongside the remains of two principal towers, the better preserved of which is a large flint-built rectangular structure that still rises to a considerable height and gives a real sense of the castle's former scale. The masonry is rough and honest, built in the local flint and rubble style typical of medieval construction in chalk downland areas. Walking around the site on a clear day, with the wind moving across the open ground and jackdaws calling from the surviving stonework, produces a strong feeling of the passage of time. The grass is well maintained and the site is peaceful, rarely crowded, with an intimacy that more famous castles often lack. The village of Ludgershall itself is a modest but pleasant community on the edge of Salisbury Plain, and the castle sits on its northern fringe. The surrounding landscape is the quintessential chalk downland of Wiltshire — wide open skies, rolling fields, and a sense of spaciousness that has defined this part of England for millennia. Nearby Tidworth is a significant British Army garrison town, and the military presence is a feature of this part of Wiltshire more broadly. Andover lies roughly six miles to the south, while Marlborough and the Kennet valley are accessible to the north. The proximity to Salisbury Plain means the area has a long and complex relationship with both ancient and modern military history. For practical visiting, Ludgershall Castle is freely accessible and managed by English Heritage, though unlike many English Heritage properties it does not have a staffed visitor centre or on-site facilities. There is parking available in the village, and the castle is a short walk from the village centre. It is open during reasonable daylight hours throughout the year. The site is largely flat and accessible on foot, though the earthworks themselves involve some gentle slopes. The best times to visit are spring and summer when the site is at its most pleasant, though autumn visits have their own melancholy beauty amid the fallen leaves. It is a site that suits quiet, contemplative visitors — those who appreciate ruins for what they are rather than expecting museum-style interpretation at every turn. One of the more intriguing aspects of Ludgershall Castle's history is how thoroughly it has been overlooked given its genuine royal pedigree. A place that hosted multiple English monarchs and served as a significant administrative centre during the height of Plantagenet power is today known mainly to local residents and dedicated medieval history enthusiasts. Archaeological work carried out at the site in the twentieth century confirmed much of what historical documents had suggested about its layout and phasing, revealing evidence of substantial domestic buildings and refining understanding of how the castle developed over time. That combination of royal history, fine surviving earthworks, free admission, and relative obscurity makes Ludgershall Castle a genuinely rewarding destination for anyone with an interest in England's medieval past.

Castle Hill is an ancient and atmospheric hillfort located near the village of Maiden Bradley in Wiltshire, England, close to the Somerset border. Sitting at a modest but commanding elevation, this scheduled ancient monument represents one of the many Iron Age earthwork enclosures that punctuate the chalk downlands of southern England. While less famous than the mighty hillforts of Maiden Castle in Dorset or Cadbury Castle nearby in Somerset, Castle Hill retains a quiet, largely undisturbed character that makes it especially appealing to those who seek genuine connection with prehistoric landscapes without the crowds that attend more celebrated sites. The site's origins lie in the Iron Age, broadly spanning the period from around 800 BC to the Roman conquest of Britain in the first century AD. Like so many of the hillforts of the region, Castle Hill was likely constructed and modified over several generations, serving as a centre of tribal life, defence, and perhaps seasonal gathering. The surrounding area of Wiltshire and Somerset is extraordinarily rich in prehistoric activity, and Castle Hill fits within a broader pattern of elevated enclosures used by the communities who inhabited these chalk and limestone landscapes long before written records began. The proximity to Stourhead and its estate lands means the site has been relatively well preserved, partly due to centuries of pastoral rather than intensive arable farming over the hillside. Physically, Castle Hill is defined by its earthwork ramparts, the grassed banks and ditches that encircle the summit and give the hilltop its characteristic crowned profile when viewed from a distance. Up close, the ramparts can be clearly traced on foot, rising and dipping through the turf in a way that rewards slow, attentive walking. Underfoot the ground tends to be springy chalk grassland, and the site hosts the kind of short, herb-rich sward associated with unimproved downland, alive with wildflowers in late spring and summer and grazed by sheep whose cropping keeps the vegetation low. The views from the crest reach across the gently rolling countryside of this corner of Wiltshire, toward the wooded ridge of the Stourhead estate and on clear days far into Somerset. The surrounding landscape is quintessentially English in a quiet, unhurried way. The village of Maiden Bradley lies close by to the north, a small settlement with a long history connected to a medieval priory that once stood there. The Stourhead estate, managed by the National Trust and celebrated for its magnificent eighteenth-century landscape garden, lies just a short distance to the northeast and provides an obvious companion destination for any visit to this area. The lanes approaching Castle Hill wind through hedgerow-enclosed fields and patches of ancient woodland typical of the Wiltshire-Somerset borderland, and the village of Kilmington is also within easy reach. For visitors, access to Castle Hill involves travel through the narrow country lanes of this rural area, and the site itself is best reached on foot across farmland and footpaths that intersect the surrounding countryside. The area falls within a network of public rights of way, so walkers can reach the hill as part of a broader ramble through the estate farmland and bridleways of the district. There is no dedicated car park at the hill itself, and visitors typically use roadside parking in or near Maiden Bradley before setting out on foot. Wellingtons or sturdy walking boots are advisable given that the paths can be muddy in wet weather, and the grassland on the hill itself may be uneven. The best time to visit is late spring through to early autumn, when the days are long, the wildflowers of the chalk grassland are at their most vibrant, and the full extent of the views can be appreciated in good light. The site has no visitor facilities, no entrance fee, and no formal infrastructure beyond the public footpaths that pass near or through it, which suits those looking for unmediated contact with a genuine ancient landscape. As a scheduled monument, the earthworks are legally protected, and visitors should avoid digging, disturbing the banks, or metal detecting without appropriate authorisation. One of the more fascinating aspects of Castle Hill and its surroundings is the sheer density of ancient heritage in this part of England. Within just a few miles, the landscape holds medieval priory ruins, Bronze Age barrows, estate parkland designed by Henry Hoare the Younger in the eighteenth century, and the remarkable King Alfred's Tower at Stourhead, an eighteenth-century folly built to commemorate the supposed spot where Alfred the Great raised his standard against the Danes. Castle Hill thus sits not as an isolated curiosity but as one layer within a richly stratified historical landscape, each era having left its imprint upon the same rolling hills.

Castle Combe in the Cotswolds of Wiltshire has been described on several occasions as the most beautiful village in England, a title it shares with several competitors but wears with some justification given the particular perfection of its combination of Cotswold stone buildings, the Bybrook stream running through the lower village and the complete absence of any intrusive modern development that might disturb the essentially medieval character of its streets and buildings. The village was used as a location for the filming of Doctor Dolittle in 1967 and various other productions since, and the absence of television aerials, satellite dishes and modern shop fronts from the main street reflects the village's commitment to maintaining its historic character. The village developed its prosperity during the medieval and Tudor periods as a cloth-making centre, and the wealth generated by the wool trade funded the building of the handsome Perpendicular Gothic church of St Andrew, the market cross and the stone-built cottages along the main street that create the streetscape for which Castle Combe is celebrated. The church contains memorials to the de Dunstanville family, who gave the village its name from the castle that stood above it in the Norman period, and to other local families who benefited from and contributed to the medieval prosperity of the settlement. The lower village, where the Bybrook flows between stone-built cottage gardens and beneath an ancient packhorse bridge, is the most picturesque section and provides the views most reproduced in Cotswold tourism literature. The combination of the stream, the bridge, the mill and the cottages in a narrow valley setting creates a scene of particular concentrated beauty that is most rewarding in the early morning before the visitor traffic of the day begins. The Castle Combe motor racing circuit, confusingly, is located at a considerable distance from the village and bears no visual relationship to the historic settlement.

Situated 15 miles from the city of Salisbury, Old Wardour Castle is set in a countryside location beside a lake. The ruins of the virtually destroyed castle are now integrated into the surrounding parkland of the 'New Wardour House' but consist solely of part of the main building with its beautiful arched windows. The new castle was built as a Neoclassical house rather than a castle, with a symmetrical main block, central staircase hall and two wings. Facilities The castle and shop are open daily from 10am from April until October and at weekends between November and March. Included in the price of the entrance ticket is an audio tour telling of the castles eventful past, visitors will also be able to climb to the top of the turrets and re-enact scenes from one of the recent films that have been made there. The New Wardour House is not open to the public. The castle was built by the St Martin family in 1392 using local Tisbury greensand; a green sandstone rock. It was built by master mason William Wynford in an unusual design with six sides, similar to those in continental Europe. In 1461 the castle was confiscated and after passing through many hands was bought by the Arundell's, an ancient Cornish family. The castle was once again confiscated when Sir Thomas Arundell was executed in 1552 for treason, but his son Matthew was able to buy back the castle some time later. During the Civil War the lady of the house, Lady Blanche aged 61, was alone with her husband was away on the King's business, when the parliamentarians came looking for Royalists. The castle was subjected to a five day siege after which she was forced to surrender before the castle was totally destroyed. In 1644 Henry, 3rd Lord Arundell retaliated by blowing up what remained of the castle and causing the parliamentarian garrison to surrender. Henry then went about borrowing money to have the castle rebuilt, but instead employed James Paine to build 'New Wardour Castle' in a Palladian style, leaving the old castle as a feature within the grounds. The Arts Both Old Wardour and the New Wardour House have been used as film sets, Old Wardour in 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves', staring Kevin Costner in 1991, and New Wardour as the Community Hall in the film Billy Elliot with Julie Walters in 2000.