Lulworth Castle
Lulworth Castle
Lulworth Castle, built in the early 17th Century as a hunting lodge, became a country house at the heart of a large estate. Thomas Howard, 3rd Lord Bindon, built the Castle in order to entertain hunting parties for the King and Court. The Howards owned it until 1641 when it was purchased by Humphrey Weld, the direct ancestor of the present owners.
The exterior of the Castle changed little over the years but the interior evolved in line with changing fashions until it was gutted by a disastrous fire in 1929. Consolidation work on the ruin was started by the Department of the Environment and was followed through to completion in 1998 by English Heritage.
The Castle opened its doors to the public as a tourist attraction in 1998 and today visitors can enjoy exploring the Castle, climbing the Tower, visiting the C18th Roman Catholic Chapel of St Mary and the C15th Church of St Andrew. There are woodland walks and a childrens playground and spacious grounds to dog walk and picnic.
Lulworth Estate
The Lulworth Estate extends over 12,000 acres (20 square miles) of the south Dorset countryside, including 5 miles of the Jurassic Coast and internationally renowned landmarks such as Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door. Lulworth’s estate pedigree can go back as far as Doomsday times in the 11th century and beyond, and, since 1641, it has been owned and managed by the Weld family.
Although, traditionally an agricultural estate, Lulworth has been an innovator in diversification, being one of the first to recognise rural tourism, opening its doors to visitors in the early years of the twentieth century with the establishment of a holiday park, parking and coastal footpaths. Our pioneering initiatives encompass all our activities, farming, tourism, employment, housing and access, our built and natural heritage and even providing the first live tank firing range.
Jurassic Coast
Lulworth forms part of the Dorset and East Devon World Heritage Site popularly known as the 'Jurassic Coast'. 95 miles of coast represent 185 million years of the Earth's History with rocks from the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous time periods. Around a third of the time of complex life on Earth is represented in these cliffs preserved in fossil form.
The World Heritage Site status was awarded by UNESCO in December 2001 with the site being formally opened by the Prince of Wales at Lulworth Cove in October 2002. As England's first natural WHS it offers universal value to all mankind.
The charitable organisation The Jurassic Coast Trust aims to support education, science, art and research projects based across the World Heritage Site and welcomes individual and business sponsorship.
http://www.jurassiccoasttrust.org
Education
The Lulworth Education Service was set up by the Estate Ranger Team in 1994 to co-ordinate field education at the site and promote best-practice in all we do.
The service has developed over the years and today we provide field teaching for around 6,000 students a year. We welcome children ranging from Year 1 right through to adult education groups and have produced our own range of essential education resources to assist learning for all visiting schools.
From our base at Lulworth Cove we offer sessions for all ages focusing on the geography, geology and ecology of our well-studied and awe inspiring World Heritage Site coastline.
Farm sessions are also now available to book. Based at our in-house farm in Lulworth Castle Park, visiting groups can discover how we farm with the environment and future generations in mind.
The historic 17th century Lulworth Castle is also open for group visits, where guided tours and fun activities reveal the stories of generations past.