It is rare for a completely untouched site to be taken into guardianship, and when this happens it is critically important that the philosophy of research, repair, and display is established before the site changes management. Wigmore Castle, Hereford and Worcester, is just such a site; perhaps the last great castle to survive as the process of gradual ruination has left it. In danger of catastrophic loss of fabric, Wigmore has, for 2 decades, been the subject of protracted negotiations between EH and its owners in an attempt to stop its continued deterioration. Identified through the Monument Protection Programme as the most important of the castles of the Welsh March to be at risk, the Secretary of State for National Heritage accepted that the only solution for its repair and future maintenance was to take it into guardianship.
There has been a castle at Wigmore since 1069, and its earthworks date largely from the 12th century although the surviving ruins date from the 13th and 14th centuries and represent the fortress of the Mortimer dynasty from which they controlled large parts of central Wales. Passing to Richard, Duke of York, and ultimately to Edward IV, it became a royal castle. Ludlow offered better accommodation and Wigmore was rarely used, being partly ruinous by the 16th century. Sold by Elizabeth I in 1601 to the Harleys of nearby Brampton Bryan, it was technically held by Sir Robert Harley for Parliament in the Civil War. However, he could not garrison it, and rather than risk its being seized for the crown, it was slighted before it saw any action. As a consequence, it was not remodelled in the 16th century and its defences were not modified in the 17th century, leaving the medieval castle remarkably undisturbed.
Wigmore Castle is a significant archaeological resource, with deposits up to 4m deep and the buildings of its inner bailey buried up to first floor level. Its repair, restricted in the first instance to standing fabric, requires a very light touch although many areas are extremely fragile. The quality of the masonry was extremely high, but the widespread use of silt-stone means that the exposed structures are badly weathered and will continue to deteriorate. Because of this, the only sensible course of treatment is to retain the grass cover on the wall-tops and to introduce it where it is missing, and to rebury low walling for its own protection leaving the site very much as it appears to day. At present, most of the structure is covered with ivy at a high level which increases its instability. This causes a serious problem: to remove it places large areas of fabric at risk, but that fabric cannot be recorded and analysed until the ivy is cleared, leaving little time for the analysis of the structure before repairs must be carried out. As a result, the recording of the structure will have to be carried out as part of the repair programme and not, as is usual, as a prerequisite. The record, made while the site is actually being repaired, will also include any interventions made by EH.
The decision not to excavate the site was taken very early in the process of defining the philosophy of display, although this does not preclude major research excavation in the future. At present, the site is too unstable to permit excavation before repair of the standing fabric, and the development of a research design requires an overview of castles research that goes far beyond Wigmore. Engineering intervention, however, requires some excavation, and this will enable the structural history of the site to be established with the minimum disturbance to archaeological deposits. The intention is to conserve the site as found, allowing visitors to explore a ruin in its natural state and not modified for display. The research derived from the conservation programme will inform the interpretation, and will set the standard for the conservation of major ruins into the early 21st century.
