A QUEST to pinpoint the original site of Lulworth Castle will be financed by a £50,000 National Lottery grant.

Students from the Purbeck School, Wareham, have been enlisted in the archaeological endeavour, after the Dorset Castles Research Group (DCRG) secured the cash from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Experts will join students in the search for evidence of Lulworth’s original 800-year-old castle. They’ll be using modern methods to scour the existing castle’s grounds throughout 2013, before displaying their findings in a long-term exhibition.

DCRG secretary Ray Baxter explained: “We’ve been awarded £52,300 for a project that will include a search for the location of Lulworth Castle – not the existing castle but the 12th century castle which was recorded by William of Malmesbury. Apart from looking for the earlier castle the group also hopes to discover evidence of the present day castle’s 18th century ornamental gardens and the village of East Lulworth which once stood nearby.”

Historians say the earliest documentary record of East Lulworth village is in the Doomsday Book.