HARTLEBURY CASTLE

Worcestershire

Worcestershire's best known Castle (Dudley is usually erroneously thought to be elsewhere) is quite a disappointment to the visitor.

It houses the Hereford and Worcester Museum, but you can't get good views of the Castle itself as most of the grounds aren't open to the public, as it is still the residence of the Bishops of Worcester.

This belies the Castles long history.  In the 1250s Bishop Walter de Cantilupe had a moat dug around his manor house ere; it was subsequently crenellate around 1268 at which time the Castle was of the familiar quadrangle formation.  Edward I was entertained here in 1282 before he went off to conquer Wales.

In the mid-1400s a gatehouse was added by Bishop Carpenter, although this was removed in 1781 by Bishop Hurd who rebuilt the Castle extensively into the mansion we have been left with today which barely resembles the strong Castle it once was.

Before Bishop Hurd's destruction, the Castle was involved in a siege during the Civil War, which only lasted two days but later resulted in the Castle being slighted.

Only the north wing of the building constructed around 1774 is open to the public as the Museum.

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2018