In the area on which the castle stands, evidence has been found of dwellings and storage spaces (including a hydraulic structure, storage silos and hut foundations) that belonged to a Copper Age community.

Surviving structures from the Roman settlement include a double walled enclosure, which had a moat on the north side for additional defensive reinforcement. The settlement was probably laid out around a tower to the south-west, which would have provided the large stones used for the foundations of the medieval tower. The enclosure housed a number of buildings, including areas for storing agricultural produce and water. Few traces of these structures remain. 

The medieval fortress was built between the 13th and 14th centuries making use of the Roman remains. It comprised an irregular trapezoidal walled enclosure with four towers, of which three have survived: a large rectangular tower in the south-west corner, a small circular tower to the north-west (of which only the base remains), and a solid rectangular tower to the north-east, which defended the castle’s entrance. At the south-east corner there was a fourth tower, which disappeared during the 19th century. All of the castle complex is built from masonry, except for the south wall, which is of rammed earth.

The south-west tower, which served as the keep, is divided into four storeys, with a cistern on the ground floor. Some parts of the keep still retain traces of the original decoration that covered its walls, in the form of leaf or droplet motifs created using the sgraffito technique. These decorations would also have covered the castle walls and the solid tower.

The keep’s original entrance was strongly defended, with a double door, a portcullis, and a murder hole which liquids could be poured through or rocks dropped onto the heads of attackers. However, this entrance was blocked up when the cistern was built inside the tower, as it occupies almost all of the ground floor. Although the vaulted ceiling of the cistern has since disappeared, a couple of related elements remain, in the form of a structure used for decanting water and a well from which the water was drawn.

The archaeological excavations that uncovered this cistern also revealed the original staircase built into the keep’s north wall. You can see both of these features during your visit and walk over the cistern. The keep culminates in a terrace affording expansive views over the surrounding area; it is possible to make out the towns of El Berrueco, Andújar, Arjona and Martos, thereby illustrating just why this particular site was chosen for the castle.

Its location on a steep slope provided a natural defence, while the north and west sides – which are more accessible – were protected by a large moat some 7 metres wide and up to 2.10 metres deep, which was only brought to light thanks to recent archaeological excavations. The moat lay between two towers, which were reinforced by means of escarpments that are still visible.

In the 16th century a new entrance was made in the west wall, incorporating a Renaissance façade of quarried stone that still stands today. It consists of two sections: the lower section features a semi-circular arch resting on pilasters, while the upper section has a large rectangular panel in the centre bearing the coat of arms of Fernando de Torres and his first wife, Francisca de Carvajal y Osorio. 

However, the biggest alteration to the castle was the addition of structures abutting the walls to form a large residential space. In the keep and south wall we can still find openings that would have served as access points. Although we can still make out the shape of the ground floors of these structures, originally they would have stood two or three storeys tall. These structures housed the more intimate areas of the palace, namely the bedchambers of the count and countess, along with the chapel, a crypt, a hallway and a gallery or atrium in the building to the west. The ground floor of the southernmost building was used for storage, while the first floor housed the palace’s central feature: a large hall incorporating a fireplace carved into the tower’s façade. The structures to the north and east were chiefly used as service areas, and included stables, kitchens and a cellar.

Archaeological excavations have confirmed the existence of a prehistoric settlement dating back to the Copper Age, located on the hill that is now home to Villardompardo Castle. The discovery of sickle blades, elements used for milling and storage silos indicate that the settlement had an agrarian economy based on the farming of cereal crops. Investigators have also found a hydraulic structure, underground dwellings and post holes. However, the site does not appear to have been occupied continuously, which indicates that at some point it was temporarily abandoned.

Throughout Jaén’s Campiña region, between the 1st century BC and the 2nd century AD there was an increase in the number of agricultural settlements dedicated to the cultivation of cereal crops. During this period, people returned to the site and a fortified settlement was built; this settlement reached its zenith between the early decades of the 1st century and the 2nd century AD, after which the site was abandoned once more.

In the Late Middle Ages, the term villar was used to refer to a place where there were remains of an old abandoned settlement. After they conquered this territory, the Castilians settled in the areas where Roman structures were still visible, and used some of them as a source of building materials to construct a castle. 

Although the hamlet of El Villar de Don Pardo is mentioned as far back as 1251, the castle was not built until the late 13th or early 14th century. The first reference to the fortification is in 1416, as a place still controlled by the Council of Jaén. Some years later, the hamlet was granted to Fernando Ruiz de Torres. 

During the second half of the 15th century, when Villardompardo formed part of the estate of Teresa de Torres (the wife of Miguel Lucas de Iranzo, the Constable of Castile), it became an important defensive stronghold for the supporters of King Henry IV of Castile against the rebel aristocratic factions, which in this area were led by the Order of Calatrava. When Teresa’s son died without issue, the estate passed to a more distant branch of the Torres family, which was connected to the family of Peter I of Portugal. Philip II went on to make the castle the seat of a county by making Fernando de Torres y Portugal the Count of Villardompardo in 1576. 

Between the end of the 16th century and the start of the 17th century the castle was converted into a palace and used by the count and countess as their main residence. However, their successors took up residence at the royal court in Madrid, and as a result the castle fell into disrepair through lack of maintenance. The abolition of primogeniture during the reign of Ferdinand VII meant that the estate had to be divided, and so Villardompardo Castle passed out of the ownership of the main branch of the family.

Around the turn of the 20th century, the 16th century buildings were demolished leaving only the perimeter walls; the ground was flattened and terraces were cut into the north wall in order to temporarily turn the enclosure into a bullring. 

Between 2012 and 2023, a number of urgent works were carried out in order to secure the castle, and it has also been the subject of various archaeological excavations and restoration efforts.