Dudley Castle, West Midlands

Dudley Castle is a ruined castle in the town of Dudley, West Midlands. Dudley Zoo is in the grounds of Dudley Castle.

It is believed that the first castle was built on this site as early as 1070, but that would have been a wooded structure and no trace now exists. The first stone castle was built on the site in the 12th century. The existing ruin is from a castle constructed in the late 13th and early 14th century.

Dudley Castle passed through marriage to the de Somery family in the 13th century. The last of the male line of Somery, died in 1321 and the castle and estates passed to his sister Margaret and her husband John de Sutton. Members of this family often used Dudley as a surname. In 1532 another John Sutton inherited the castle but after having money problems was pushed out by a relative, John Dudley, later Duke of Northumberland, in 1537. He was later beheaded, for his attempt to set Lady Jane Grey on the Throne of England.

The castle was returned to the Sutton family by Queen Mary. The castle was later visited by Queen Elizabeth I and was considered as a possible place of imprisonment for Mary, Queen of Scots.

A century later, the castle became a Royalist stronghold during the Civil War, and was surrendered to Cromwell's forces in 1646. The castle was partly demolished and the present ruined appearance of the keep result from this decision.

The castle visitor centre was opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1994, and amongst other exhibits housed a computer generated reconstruction of the castle as it was in 1550

(Photographs courtesy of Trish & Chris Seymour).

Opening Times

Open everyday from 10.00 am (except Christmas Day)
Last admission: winter 3.00 pm & Easter-September 4.00 pm
N.B grounds close 60 minutes later

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Ticket Prices

Admission to the Zoo and Castle:
Adult (inc £1.20 donation) £12.50*
Adult (without £1.20 donation) £11.30*
Children (3-15 yrs) £8.90
Concessions
Adult with disability/Senior Citizen/Student or Young Person (16-18 yrs) £9.90
Child with Disability £6.00
One Free Admission for Carer with Disabled Visitor
Under 3s FREE
Car Parking (all day) £3.00

Disabled Facilities

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More Information

Telephone: 01384 215322

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