{"id":398,"date":"2017-09-17T21:27:42","date_gmt":"2017-09-17T21:27:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebestofexmoor.co.uk\/blog\/?p=398"},"modified":"2025-08-25T15:07:04","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T15:07:04","slug":"dunster-castle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebestofexmoor.co.uk\/blog\/dunster-castle\/","title":{"rendered":"Dunster Castle, Gardens & Watermill | National Trust | Visitor Information"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well worth a visit when in Exmoor National Park, the magnificent Dunster Castle is now run by the National Trust as a tourist attraction. Hundreds of years old, this medieval country home will have plenty to keep you entertained. There are ‘behind the scenes’ tours<\/a> to help you get a glimpse of how the servants lived, run daily from March until November. Visit the crypt and learn about the ghosts of Dunster Castle… if you’re feeling brave enough!<\/p>\n

\"Dunster
Sometimes it’s hard to tell why you feel like you’ve stepped back in time on Exmoor to a fairytale land vaguely familiar from a childhood daydream or mediaeval story… However, when in Dunster, these feelings can more obviously be explained. Not every village high street runs casually towards a magnificent castle, centuries-old.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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A brief history of Dunster Castle<\/h3>\n

To start this epic fairytale, we can consider the very beginning; Castle version number one consisted of a Saxon Hillfort, a fortification constructed sometime around 700AD.
\nSeveral hundred years later, the Norman Warrior William de Mohun’ replaced the original Hillfort with a motte-and-bailey style timber castle.
\nWilliams’ son (of the same name) then constructed the upper stone fortifications sometime in the early 12th century.
\nDuring this time and beyond, various battles, periods of anarchy and the civil war tested the Castle for its military functionality, much of it destroyed and rebuilt.<\/p>\n

In 1376, the Castle passed into its next chapter – from Mohuns to Lutterals. This family made significant modifications and expansions over the generations; the building of the gatehouse (1420), the creation of the Jacobean mansion (1617) and, subsequently, into a comfortable Victorian home (1868). Only in recent years (1976) did the Lutterals finally pass the Castle onto the National Trust, who offer it as the incredible tourist attraction it is today.<\/p>\n\t

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