Construction of Warblington Castle

1520

Warblington Castle was built in the early sixteenth century as a fortified manor house for the Pole family. Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, was the most prominent member of the family to be associated with the castle. She was of Plantagenet descent and was one of the last surviving members of the Yorkist royal line. Her position made her politically dangerous to Henry VIII, and she was arrested in 1539 and executed at the Tower of London in 1541 at the age of sixty-seven. The castle was subsequently damaged and partially demolished, and only a single octagonal tower and fragments of wall survive today, standing beside St Thomas a Becket Church on the harbour shore. The ruins are a scheduled monument.