A look at Highcliffe Castle, Dorset

Precautionary measures are in place to ensure social distancing, but we can once again sample much of what the historic building has to offer.

Originally was home to the Rothesay's

The Grade 1 listed building was built for the diplomat Lord Stuart de Rothesay between 1831 and 1836 in the Gothic Revival style.

Materials were used that had been salvaged from French medieval structures, including glass windows and stone gargoyles.

Lord de Rothesay always had a fondness of the cliffs and building the castle was a life-long ambition. He had it furnished and decorated lavishly in the 18th-century French style.

After Lord de Rothesay’s death in 1845, his widow Lady Stuart de Rothesay inherited the castle. She died in 1867 and left the property to Louisa her younger daughter.

In 1891 Lady Waterford too died and as she had no children she left the castle to a distant cousin Edward Stuart Wortley.

Visitors included a Prime Minister and future king

Among the visitors to the castle were Prime Minister William Gladstone, the future Edward VII when he was Prince of Wales and author Nancy Mitford.

The German Kaiser Wilhelm also stayed for three weeks in 1907 to rest his health - just seven years before his country declared war on Britain.

Was home to the owner of Selfridges

In 1916-22, the castle was home to the American-born retail entrepreneur Harry Gordon Selfridge.

The owner of the famous department store wanted to move his family out of London because of potential Zeppelin raids and rented the castle for £5,000 (£445,000 in today’s money) each year, fully furnished.

Selfridge's wife, Rosalie, established a US military convalescence camp at the present Highcliffe Recreation Ground while his daughters became Red Cross volunteers and worked at Christchurch Hospital.

His wife died during the influenza outbreak of 1918, but Selfridge continued to live the life of a country gentleman, organizing a fete that attracted 5,000 people to the castle on Whit Monday in 1926.

Selfridge, his wife and his mother are all buried at St Marks Church in Highcliffe.

The castle changed ownership and fell into a state of near-disrepair

In the 1950s, the Stuart-Wortley family sold all the furnishings and then the house itself. It became a convalescent home for children for a while before parts were sold off to a developer for housing.

The Roman Catholic Claretian Missionary owned the house from 1953 to 1967, before the property was badly damaged in a fire and then sold to three local businessmen.

In 1968, another fire broke out and the condition of the castle worsened after vandalism and exposure to the elements.

Christchurch Council purchased the castle in 1977 to prevent further deterioration, but for a long time improvements seemed a distant prospect and, when in 1990 scaffolding was set up around the castle, there were those who thought demolition was the only option.

Saved by Lottery funding

However, the arrival of the National Lottery in 1994 gave new hope and, with the help of a lottery donation, Christchurch council began a major overhaul.

Thanks to the work the castle returned as a venue for education and events, and a second grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2016 enabled doors to open the public that granted access to parts not seen by the public for decades.