Merdon Castle

3D Model

Merdon Castle is the ruined remains of a substantial motte and bailey castle constructed within the ramparts of an earlier univallate hillfort on a prominent, south facing chalk spur near the village of Hursley. It was built by Henry de Blois, the Bishop of Winchester between 1129 and 1138, although there is tentative documentary evidence to suggest that it may originally have been the site of a Saxon defended manorial residence dating from the eighth century. The castle was partly demolished in 1155 on the accession of Henry II but was used as a bishop’s palace until at least the 14th century. The hillfort is of probable Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age date (eighth to fifth centuries BC).