About the town » Castlemorton, Worcestershire, England, Great Britain

Castlemorton is a village and civil parish close to Malvern in the Malvern Hills District in the county of Worcestershire, England. It consists of a village centre, a large common and many farms and houses within the area. To the south of the village are the earthwork remains of a medieval motte-and-bailey castle. Castlemorton Common was once part of the vast Royal hunting grounds of the Malvern Chase. James I split up much of this hunting ground (examples are Eastnor Castle Estate, Bromsberrow Estate) and Castlemorton Common is the largest remaining chunk of untouched public land. Much of Castlemorton is today within a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) due to some very rare fauna and flora living within its boundaries. The Common was the location of the controversial Castlemorton Common Festival, a week-long free festival and rave held in 1992, that led to the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. The event made national headlines.