Sherborne Old Castle is, as its name suggests, near the old English town of Sherborne in north west Dorset. It dates from the 12th century.


Sherborne Old Castle was started around about 1130 and was built by Roger de Caen who was Bishop of Sarum from 1107-1139. The castle was enlarged and improved over the years. Perhaps its most famous owner was Sir walter Raleigh to took over the castle in 1592 and began re-modelling it. During the Civil War the castle became a Royalist stronghold and resisted a Parliamentary seige in 1642. However in 1645 the castle was stormed by the Parliamentarians and surrendered to General Fairfax. Areas of the castle were then destroyed to stop its re-use by Royalists. It is now called the Old Castle to distinguish it from a later residence also called Sheborne castle some 300 metres to the south.


Size: 4288px × 2848px
Location: Sherborne Old Castle, Castleton, Sherborne, DT9 3SA England.
Photo credit: © Brian Hartshorn / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: None

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