A Glorious Ruin

Wigmore has an overgrown appearance that once characterised many ruined sites.

The walls are buried to a depth of several metres in many places, but it is possible to recreate much of the castle's original arrangement © English Heritage When conserving the site in the 1990s, English Heritage deliberately retained its wildness, as the castle had become home to rare and unusual species including lesser horseshoe bats and wild flowers like ploughman's spikenard.  Accumulated debris was allowed to remain, and the grasses, ferns and flowers growing on the walls were carefully lifted up and replaced as 'soft-capping' to protect the walls from rain and more destructive plants like trees.

The conservation works also included two archaeological excavations.  These revealed that as well as the towers along the curtain wall, there were timber-framed buildings all along the inside of the inner bailey.

One corner of the great hall still survives and on the motte are the remains of the most important private chambers of the lord including a great tower.