LULWORTH CASTLE. 141 



in the year 1146. It was probably, therefore, a powerful place and 

 one becoming the position of the family of Newburghs, and may 

 have given the idea of the form of the present castle. 



It is known that the present structure of Lulworth Castle was 

 erected upon, and, doubtless, in some measure out of, the remains 

 of a considerable building upon its present site, as there is still to 

 be seen in one of the arches of the cellar in the centre of the castle 

 a fourteenth century moulded window, which has evidently been 

 left in situ. 



A castle known as Poyning's Castle seems to have been erected 

 upon a commanding situation called Mount Poyning's, about a mile 

 and a-half due west of Lulworth Castle. It was in existence in the 

 16th century, when it was demolished to provide materials for 

 Lulworth Castle. From its name it is probable that Poyning 

 Castle was erected after these estates passed from the hands of the 

 Newburghs into those of the Poynings, which would give the date 

 of the structure as late as the beginning of the 16th century. 



Lulworth Castle was erected about 1600 to 1620. The 

 design is supposed to be by Inigo Jones. The Earl of Suffolk 

 resided there in 1635, but the inside was not completed until after 

 the purchase of the property by Humphrey Weld. In 1643-4 

 Lulworth Castle was occupied by the Parliamentary forces, who 

 stripped it before their departure of all iron bars and lead. 



The park must at that time have been very extensive, as it 

 extended, according to Mr. Coker, to Bindon. A large portion, 

 however, has in more recent years been disparked. 



Both James I. and Charles II. were entertained here, and in 

 later days George III. and Charles X. of France after he was exiled 

 from his own country. 



The building is an exact cube of 80 feet with a tower in each 

 corner, and the walls are several feet thick, the centre walls in 

 the basement being over seven feet thick. The terraces, or 

 cloisters, as they were formerly called, because they were paved with 

 stone taken from the cloisters of Bindon Abbey, were added in the 

 last century. 



