Old Sarum Castle

In 1069, having recognised the defensive qualities of Seresberi — the place now known as Old Sarum — William the Conqueror raised a motte-and-bailey castle inside an older Iron Age hillfort called Sorviodunum, itself constructed around 400 BC. The castle went up first in timber and was eventually rebuilt in stone.

The courtyard was added around 1100 by Bishop Roger, who directed the royal administration and the exchequer from Old Sarum along with his extended family, and who began work on a royal palace during the 1130s, before his arrest by Henry's successor, Stephen. At the time of that arrest Roger was administering the castle on the king's behalf; afterwards it was allowed to fall into disrepair, though the sheriff and castellan continued to administer the area under the king's authority.

Which building was Roger's palace is unsettled. It was long thought to be the small structure whose ruins lie in the central bailey, but it may instead have been the large palace found more recently in the south-east quadrant of the outer bailey: 170 by 65 metres around a large central courtyard, with walls up to three metres thick, a room 60 metres long that was probably a great hall, and what appears to have been a large tower.

In 1171 Henry II ordered improvements at Old Sarum — a new gatehouse, a drawbridge, inner bailey walls, and a treasury built within the keep — and the work continued until 1189. A refurbishment of the quarters of Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was held under house arrest at Old Sarum until that same year, was also undertaken. A new hall, kitchen and bakehouse for the sheriff of Wiltshire followed, begun about 1201 and completed by 1215.

By 1220 most of the population of Old Sarum had relocated to Salisbury; the castle went unused and was in decay by 1240. It was later repaired, only to be demolished by King Edward III in 1322. Around 1350 Edward III ordered £700 to be spent on repairs and maintenance of the castle at Old Sarum, but a further £600 required to repair the keep was never spent, and its fabric began to deteriorate over time. Henry VIII sold the castle grounds in 1514.

The castle and the ruins of Old Sarum Cathedral are held to be a highly important ancient monument: Old Sarum was among the 26 English locations scheduled under the Ancient Monuments Protection Act of 1882, the first British legislation of its kind. That protection has continued since, widening to take in some suburban areas west and south-east of the outer bailey, and in 1972 Old Sarum was also listed Grade I. Only the mound and the castle's foundations survive. English Heritage administers the castle along with the cathedral ruins, and the site is open to the public with the rest of Old Sarum.