Wareham Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Description

The remains of Wareham Castle comprise a motte, 250ft total diameter and 120ft across the top; the appearance and dimensions are probably due to relatively recent work and especially to the building of the modern 'Castle Close' house. The surrounding ditch, now mostly filled in, is best preserved to the south south west where it is now about 70ft across and 22ft deep below the top of the mound. Beyond the ditch on the north and north east sides the curve of the west part of West Street and of Trinity Lane probably indicates the line of the bailey. Massive stone foundations have been discovered at points along the probable line of the bailey and excavation by Clark in 1952-3 have shown that the base of a stone keep, probably of early C12 type, survives inside the mound; much C12 pottery, and small finds were also discovered. The early history of the castle is difficult to determine since the early documentary references are confused by the description of Corfe Castle as Wareham, but there may have been a castle here soon after the Conquest. The castle figures prominently in 1138-42 but the date of its destruction is unknown (RCHME).
Castle Close, is the site of the former 12th century castle which is referred to as "cast'de Warham" in 1369 and which was no doubt the home of Geoffrey de Castello mentioned 1280 and William de Castro in 1319. "Castellum Warham" mentioned in Domesday and various 12th century references to the 'castle of Wareham' belong under Corfe Castle. The 9th century references to 'castellum' at Wareham must refer to the Anglo-Saxon burh (Mills 1977).
An examination of 2 large holes ca. 5.0m in diameter, excavated because the ground was too soft for traditional foundations, confirmed the position and depth of the inner moat. It is on the South side of Pound Lane and the depth is about 7.0m. Sited at SY92208724 (Jarvis 1985).
Between 1154-99 the castle was held by the Earls of Gloucester, was confiscated by the Crown in 1199, and returned to Gloucester in 1216 (Brown 1959; HKW). (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1003574, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number do94
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 456693.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 6 023 080.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Dorset Castles Research Group
  Wikipedia entry
Books
- Baxter, Ray, Sept 2010 (3edn), Early Norman Castles Built in the Anglo-Saxon Burhs of Dorset (Dorset Castles Research Group) esp p. 25-27
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Wessex (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 30
  Pomeroy, Colin, 1998, Discover Dorset Castles and Forts (Dovecote Press) p. 44-6
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 68
  Wilton, P., 1995, Castles of Dorset (Wimborne)
  Drage, C., 1987, 'Urban castles' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report 61) p. 117-32 online copy
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 128
  Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p. 313
  Mills, A.D., 1977, The Place-Names of Dorset, Part 1 (English Place-Name Society 52) p. 159
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 338-9
  RCHME, 1970, An inventory of historical monuments in the County of Dorset Vol. 2: south-east (HMSO) p. 324-6 no. 80 plate 172 (plan) online transcription
  Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol. 2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p. 852
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England; their story and structure (New York: Macmillan) Vol. 1 p. 252-5 online copy
  Clark, G.T., 1884, Mediaeval Military Architecture in England (Wyman and Sons) Vol. 2 p. 514-6 (reprint of 1875 article) online copy
  Hutchins, J., 1861-73 (3edn), History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset (Blandford) Vol. 1 p. 88
Periodical Articles
- Clark, Harry, 2001 July, 'The excavation of Wareham Castle' Dorset Life
  Thompson, M.W., 1986, 'Associated monasteries and castles in the Middle Ages: a tentative list' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 143 p. 316
  Jarvis, K.S., 1985, 'Pound Lane, Wareham' Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society Vol. 109 p. 170
  Hinton, D.A. and Hodges, R., 1977, 'Excavations in Wareham, 1974-5' Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society Vol. 99 p. 42-83.
  Thompson, M.W., 1961, 'Motte Sunstructures' Medieval Archaeology Vol. 5 p. 305-6 online copy
  Renn, D F., 1960, 'The keep of Wareham Castle' Medieval Archaeology Vol. 4 p. 56-68 online copy
  Brown, R. Allen, 1959, 'A List of Castles, 1154–1216' The English Historical Review Vol. 74 p. 249-280 (Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 90-121) view online copy (subscription required)
  Farrar, R.A.N., 1950, 'Archaeological Fieldwork in Dorset' Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society Vol. 72 p. 82
  Bertelot, R.Grosvenor, 1943, 'Vanished Mediaeval Castles of Dorset' Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society Vol. 66 p. 67-68
  Bennett, George J., 1898, 'Religious Foundations and Norman Castle of Wareham' Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society Vol. 19 p. 94-105
  Bennett, George J., 1892, 'Wareham: Its Invasions and Battles' Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society Vol. 13 p. 97-98 online copy
  Clark, G.T., 1889, 'Contribution towards a complete list of moated mounds or burhs' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 46 p. 197-217 esp. 203 online copy
  Clark, G.T., 1875, The Builder Vol. 33 p. 661-2
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- 1086, Domesday Book online copy
  Ingram, James, (ed) 1912, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Everyman Press, London) Laud Chronicle AD1113 view online transcription (Ingram's translation and notes date from 1823. More recent translations of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles should be consulted for serious study)
  Potter, G.R. (ed), 1955, Gesta Stephani (Nelson) p. 95-6
  Pipe Rolls 1203-4, 1206-7 (see Pipe Roll Society for published references)
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Fradley, Michael, 2011, The Old in the New: Urban Castle Imposition in Anglo-Norman England, AD1050-1150 (University of Exeter PhD Thesis) available via EThOS
  Dorset County Council, 2011, Dorset Historic Towns Survey: Wareham Download copy

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