Lulworth Castle served no defensive purpose. Its impressive, crenellated bulk is in fact an early seventeenth-century essay in nostalgia, a stage setting for the idealized world of chivalry portrayed in Spenser’s ‘Faerie Queen’. The cult of a romantic medievalism was courtly in origin and Lulworth, built as an ostentatious hunting lodge for a nobleman currying favour with the king, could be seen as a specialized offshoot of the great courtier houses of the period. Although garrisoned during the Civil War, Lulworth saw no action and by the end of the century the Castle had become the country house of the Welds. This family was Roman Catholic and the history of the Castle after they purchased it reflects both the handicaps and solaces of a faith forced into retreat.