A small rural community in North Shropshire, England has acquired a 99 year lease to manage the Castle that sits in the centre of its village.
The Trust is delighted to announce that a £1.5m project to repair and restore
Whittington Castle has just been completed with the assistance of a £950k grant
from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
We believe ours is the only Castle in the UK which is owned and
run by a
local community. If you know differently we would love to hear from you.
Stop Press
HRH The Duke of Gloucester officially opens the restored Whittington Castle. See
more photographs here.
Above:
Before and after photo showing the repaired
cottage and new tea room
If
you would like to support our ongoing fundraising
appeal please
contact the Trust. Contact details can be found here.
Forthcoming events
Welcome to Whittington. Its striking centrepiece is the
picturesque and romantic ruins of Whittington Castle, a castle steeped in much
history, tales of bitter border warfare, romance and legend located within a
mile of the Iron Age fort of Old Oswestry. The existing Castle is set in about
12 acres of ground and is the remains of a Norman home. The fabric of the Castle
has been much changed over the hundreds of years since it was built, one of
those changes being the 16th century Elizabethan dwelling attached to the northern
outer bailey gate-house tower. The tower keep is 12th century, but has been
later modified, the outer gatehouse is no doubt the work of Sir Foulke FitzWarin
of the early 13th century and above the archway can be seen his coat of arms.
(extract from a leaflet summarising the history of the Castle from 590 AD to the present
day which is available from the Friends of Whittington
Castle. Courtesy of Mrs Sylvia Ray.)
Whittington Castle Preservation Trust is a local community based charitable
trust established in December 1998 because of fears for the future of
Whittington Castle.
If you wish to contact the Trust you can find contact details here
or alternatively complete a feedback form here and we
will get back to you.
On this site you can:
Featured book about Whittington Castle
Read Elizabeth Chadwick's latest novel "Lords of the White
Castle". Based on the Fitzwarin family who lived at Whittington Castle.
Short listed for the 2002 Parker Romantic Novel of the Year.
(click on the book cover to order or find out more about the
book or read an extract here)
Read a translation of the medieval manuscript "The history of Fulk
Fitswarine" which resides in the British Museum and which provided one of
the historical sources for "Lords of the White Castle" and explains
the link to Robin Hood. You can find the text here.
"What's new" is where we'll announce the most recent
additions to our web site. If you've visited us before and want to know what's
changed, take a look here first. Or use the site
map to navigate around the site.
Website last updated - 3 August 2007
"Latest news" is is where we'll publish the latest news about our
project. If you've visited us before and want to know what's been happening,
take a look here first.
Above:
Scaffolding at the Castle illustrating the extent of repairs and restoration work
that has just been completed. Thanks to Cedric Cawthorne for permission to use this picture
If you want to see what's on our web site you can use the site
map here.
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