Highcliffe Castle wedding map print

Charles Stuart, Lord Stuart de Rothesay, a former diplomat, began it in 1830, and William Donthorne built the house over the next five years. Into its walls went carved medieval stone shipped from Normandy, from Jumièges Abbey and the Grand'Maison at Les Andelys, so a Gothic Revival house of the 1830s carries pieces far older than itself.

Its guests were remarkable. Kaiser Wilhelm II stayed for three weeks in November 1907 and gave two stained glass windows to the owner, Edward Stuart Wortley. Harry Gordon Selfridge leased the castle from 1916 to 1922 and modernised its bathrooms, heating and kitchen. He lies in the churchyard of St Mark's, which you can find on the artwork a short walk north east of the castle.

Decline followed. After a sale in 1967 one fire damaged the Great Hall, and a second in 1968 cost the house its staircase. Christchurch Council bought it in 1977, repairs began in 1994, the East Tower was rebuilt by 1998, and more phases followed in 2008 and 2018. On the map the shoreline runs below the house, the cliff top woods lead away west towards Steamer Point, and Highcliffe's streets fill the north and east.