Taunton Castle

Last updated

Taunton Castle
Taunton, Somerset
TauntonCastle.JPG
Taunton Castle
Somerset UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Taunton Castle
Shown within Somerset
Coordinates 51°00′57″N3°06′17″W / 51.0158°N 3.1046°W / 51.0158; -3.1046
TypeNorman
Site history
Built1129
Built byWilliam Giffard
MaterialsStone
Official nameTaunton Castle: a motte and bailey castle, part of the outer bailey, an Anglo-Saxon cemetery and a Civil War artillery platform
Designated25 July 1923
Reference no.1013541

Taunton Castle is a castle built to defend the town of Taunton, Somerset, England. It has origins in the Anglo Saxon period and was later the site of a priory. The Normans then built a stone structured castle, which belonged to the Bishops of Winchester. The current heavily reconstructed buildings are the inner ward, which now houses the Museum of Somerset and the Somerset Military Museum. The building was designated a grade I listed building in 1952. [1]

Contents

Anglo Saxon origins

The earliest fortification of Taunton started for King Ine of Wessex and Æthelburg, in or about the year 710. However, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle this was destroyed twelve years later, [2] however it is unlikely this was on the site of the current castle. [3] An ecclesiastical minster is traditionally said to have been founded at Taunton, only a few years later, by Queen Frithugyth, wife of King Æthelheard of Wessex, and the Bishops of Wessex appear to have built a manor house, adjoining it. [2]

Medieval and Tudor eras

A plan of the castle from J. D. Mackenzie's The Castles of England: their story and structure Plan of Taunton Castle (1897).jpg
A plan of the castle from J. D. Mackenzie's The Castles of England: their story and structure

At the time of the Domesday Book Taunton belonged to the Bishop of Winchester, who had a minster or Augustinian Priory on the site. Between 1107 and 1129 William Giffard the Chancellor of King Henry I, converted the bishop's hall into a castle. In 1216, Bishop Peter des Roches, a supporter of King John, defended the castle during a barons' revolt. [5] By the late 12th century the keep measured 65 feet (20 m) by 98 feet (30 m) with a first floor great hall over a stone vaulted undercroft. During the Second Barons' War it was used as a prison for the son of Simon de Montfort who was held here until 1282. In 1451, when the Earl of Devon besieged the castle which was held by Lord Bonville, it was arranged around two baileys. [3]

The gate-house of the inner ward was probably of Edward I's date (1239–1307), but it was changed by Bishop Walter Langton in 1496. [5] He inserted a large two-lighted Tudor window and placed a tablet bearing his own arms, supported by angels, above it and the Royal Coat of King Henry VII below. The Great Hall, which stands just opposite the gateway, is 120 feet (37 m) by 31 feet (9 m), with walls apparently, in part, Norman, but much changed by later generations. Bishop Langton inserted Tudor windows but all of them, save two in the north front, have been replaced by seventeenth or eighteenth century substitutes. The last building erected within the walls was a schoolhouse, paid for by Bishop Richard Foxe in the 1520s. [3]

Stuart era and Civil War

Taunton Castle had fallen into ruin by 1600 but it was repaired during the Civil War. Taunton had been captured by the Parliamentarian army under the Earl of Essex in June 1644 making it the only Parliamentary enclave in the South West of the country. After Essex's army was forced to surrender at Lostwithiel in Cornwall in September, the Royalists maintained a Siege of Taunton. From July 1644 to July 1645 Parliamentary forces commanded by Colonel Robert Blake were besieged by Royalist forces under Lord Goring, [6] although the town was briefly relieved by Sir William Waller in late November. [7] [8] A relief column under Colonel Ralph Weldon made it to Taunton on 11 May, but the combined forces were still besieged. The two generals held out until help arrived on 14 June after the troops could be spared from the Battle of Naseby. [9]

It was in the Great Hall, in 1685, that Judge Jeffreys held the Bloody Assizes following the Monmouth Rebellion. [5] Of more than 500 supporters of James Monmouth brought before the court on 18 and 19 September, 144 were hanged and their remains displayed around the county to ensure people understood the fate of those who rebelled against the king. [5] [10] [11] [12]

Architecture

Rear of the castle Taunton Castle2.JPG
Rear of the castle

Taunton was a typical Norman keep of the first half of the twelfth century, 50 feet (15 m) long by 40 feet (12 m) wide, [2] in three stories, with walls some 13 feet (4 m) thick. This was let into the walls of an inner ward with a stone enceinte and, there was an outer bailey represented by the modern "Castle Green". Until the late 17th century the castle was still used as a prison. [13]

By 1780, many parts of the castle had fallen into a bad condition and were repaired in a Georgian style by Sir Benjamin Hammet, a banker of Lombard Street, London, and the Member of Parliament for Taunton. In 1786 he purchased the grant as bailiff and keeper of Taunton Castle in the names of his sons and his nephew. [14] He put on a new roof, inserted many windows and recast many other details all round the castle. During the 18th and 19th centuries the Great Hall was used for public meetings. [13]

The outer ward is now occupied by two hotels, which have been crenellated, in order to be in keeping with the genuine battlements of the inner ward. But the great gate, opening into the enclosure, where they stand, is in part a genuine antique, having the arches of an "Early Decorated " gate-house of about the time of Edward I, though the superstructure is a restoration of 1816. [2] In 1873 it was bought by the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society and between 1899 and 1900 the Great Hall was repaired and refitted as their chief museum space. [15] In 1908-9 the Adam Library was created to house the society's growing collection of books. [16]

Modern era

The closed entrance Taunton Castle.JPG
The closed entrance

The great hall and inner ward of the original castle make up the Museum of Somerset which opened in September 2011 after a £7 million refurbishment, partially funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. [17]

The 17th-century Castle House has been designated as an Ancient Monument. [18] Due to its condition it was placed on the Heritage at Risk Register and underwent necessary repairs, but as of 2013 is still unoccupied. [19]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chester Castle</span> Castle is in the city of Chester

Chester Castle is in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. It is sited at the southwest extremity of the area bounded by the city walls. The castle stands on an eminence overlooking the River Dee. In the castle complex are the remaining parts of the medieval castle together with the neoclassical buildings designed by Thomas Harrison which were built between 1788 and 1813. Parts of the neoclassical buildings are used today by the Crown Court and as a military museum. The museum and the medieval remains are a tourist attraction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taunton</span> The county town of Somerset, England

Taunton is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the Bishops of Winchester. Parts of the inner ward house were turned into the Museum of Somerset and Somerset Military Museum. For the Second Cornish uprising of 1497, Perkin Warbeck brought an army of 6,000; most surrendered to Henry VII on 4 October 1497. On 20 June 1685 in Taunton the Duke of Monmouth crowned himself King of England in a rebellion, defeated at the Battle of Sedgemoor. Judge Jeffreys led the Bloody Assizes in the Castle's Great Hall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quantock Hills</span> Range of hills west of Bridgwater in Somerset, England

The Quantock Hills west of Bridgwater in Somerset, England, consist of heathland, oak woodlands, ancient parklands and agricultural land. They were England's first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, designated in 1956.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glastonbury Abbey</span> Former Benedictine abbey at Somerset, England

Glastonbury Abbey was a monastery in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. Its ruins, a grade I listed building and scheduled ancient monument, are open as a visitor attraction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Somerset</span>

Somerset is a historic county in the south west of England. There is evidence of human occupation since prehistoric times with hand axes and flint points from the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic eras, and a range of burial mounds, hill forts and other artefacts dating from the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages. The oldest dated human road work in Great Britain is the Sweet Track, constructed across the Somerset Levels with wooden planks in the 39th century BCE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castle Cary</span> Human settlement in England

Castle Cary is a market town and civil parish in south Somerset, England, 5 miles (8 km) north west of Wincanton and 8 miles (12.9 km) south of Shepton Mallet, at the foot of Lodge Hill and on the River Cary, a tributary of the Parrett.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montacute</span> Village in Somerset, England

Montacute is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Yeovil. The village has a population of 831. The name Montacute is thought by some to derive from the Latin "Mons Acutus", referring to the conically acute St Michael's Hill dominating the village to the west. An alternative view is that it is named after Drogo de Montagu, whose family originated from Montaigu-les-Bois, in the arrondissement of Coutances. Robert, Count of Mortain held Montacute after 1066, and Drogo was a close associate of his.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oxford Castle</span> Partly ruined castle in Oxford in Oxfordshire, England

Oxford Castle is a large, partly ruined medieval castle on the western side of central Oxford in Oxfordshire, England. Most of the original moated, wooden motte and bailey castle was replaced in stone in the late 12th or early 13th century and the castle played an important role in the conflict of the Anarchy. In the 14th century the military value of the castle diminished and the site became used primarily for county administration and as a prison. The surviving rectangular St George's Tower is now believed to pre-date the remainder of the castle and be a watch tower associated with the original Saxon west gate of the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wiveliscombe</span> Town in Somerset, England

Wiveliscombe is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated 9 miles (14 km) west of Taunton. The town has a population of 2,893. The Square, fronted by several listed structures, held the former market. The parish includes the nearby hamlet of Maundown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dunster Castle</span> Country house, owned by National Trust

Dunster Castle is a former motte and bailey castle, now a country house, in the village of Dunster, Somerset, England. The castle lies on the top of a steep hill called the Tor, and has been fortified since the late Anglo-Saxon period. After the Norman Conquest of England in the 11th century, William de Mohun constructed a timber castle on the site as part of the pacification of Somerset. A stone shell keep was built on the motte by the start of the 12th century, and the castle survived a siege during the early years of the Anarchy. At the end of the 14th century the de Mohuns sold the castle to the Luttrell family, who continued to occupy the property until the late 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pevensey Castle</span> Castle in East Sussex, England

Pevensey Castle is a medieval castle and former Roman Saxon Shore fort at Pevensey in the English county of East Sussex. The site is a scheduled monument in the care of English Heritage and is open to visitors. Built around 290 AD and known to the Romans as Anderitum, the fort appears to have been the base for a fleet called the Classis Anderidaensis. The reasons for its construction are unclear; long thought to have been part of a Roman defensive system to guard the British and Gallic coasts against Saxon pirates, it has more recently been suggested that Anderitum and the other Saxon Shore forts were built by a usurper in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to prevent Rome from reimposing its control over Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scarborough Castle</span> Castle in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England

Scarborough Castle is a former medieval royal fortress situated on a rocky promontory overlooking the North Sea and Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England. The site of the castle, encompassing the Iron Age settlement, Roman signal station, an Anglo-Scandinavian settlement and chapel, the 12th-century enclosure castle and 18th-century battery, is a scheduled monument of national importance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christchurch Castle</span>

Christchurch Castle is a Norman motte and bailey castle in Christchurch, Dorset, England. The earliest stonework has been dated to 1160. The castle's site is inside the old Saxon burh dominating the River Avon's lowest crossing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norham Castle</span> Ruined castle in Northumberland, England

Norham Castle is a castle in Northumberland, England, overlooking the River Tweed, on the border between England and Scotland. It is a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The castle saw much action during the wars between England and Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mitford Castle</span> Grade I listed castle in the United Kingdom

Mitford Castle is an English castle dating from the end of the 11th century and located at Mitford, Northumberland. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Grade I listed building, enlisted on 20 October 1969. The castle is also officially on the Buildings at Risk Register. The Norman motte and bailey castle stands on a small prominence, a somewhat elliptical mound, above the River Wansbeck. The selected building site allowed for the natural hill to be scarped and ditched, producing the motte.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prudhoe Castle</span> Ruined castle in Northumberland, England

Prudhoe Castle is a ruined medieval English castle situated on the south bank of the River Tyne at Prudhoe, Northumberland, England. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Grade I listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Petherton</span> Village and civil parish in Somerset, England

South Petherton is a large village and civil parish in the South Somerset district of Somerset, England, located 5 miles (8 km) east of Ilminster and 5 miles (8 km) north of Crewkerne. The parish had a population of 3,737 in 2021 and includes the smaller village of Over Stratton and the hamlets of Compton Durville, Drayton, Wigborough and Yeabridge. The River Parrett forms the eastern boundary of the parish. The village is approximately 2 miles (3 km) from East Lambrook, Martock and Lopen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grade I listed buildings in Somerset</span> Buildings of exceptional interest in Somerset

The Grade I listed buildings in Somerset, England, demonstrate the history and diversity of its architecture. The ceremonial county of Somerset consists of a non-metropolitan county, administered by Somerset County Council, which is divided into five districts, and two unitary authorities. The districts of Somerset are West Somerset, South Somerset, Taunton Deane, Mendip and Sedgemoor. The two administratively independent unitary authorities, which were established on 1 April 1996 following the breakup of the county of Avon, are North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset. These unitary authorities include areas that were once part of Somerset before the creation of Avon in 1974.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corfe Castle</span> 11th-century castle in Dorset, England

Corfe Castle is a fortification standing above the village of the same name on the Isle of Purbeck peninsula in the English county of Dorset. Built by William the Conqueror, the castle dates to the 11th century and commands a gap in the Purbeck Hills on the route between Wareham and Swanage. The first phase was one of the earliest castles in England to be built at least partly using stone when the majority were built with earth and timber. Corfe Castle underwent major structural changes in the 12th and 13th centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waytemore Castle</span> Medieval fortress in Hertfordshire, England

Waytemore Castle is a ruined castle in the town of Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire, England. The remains are a Grade I listed structure.

References

  1. ↑ Historic England. "Taunton Castle (1231384)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 5 November 2007.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "History of Taunton Castle in Somerset By Charles Oman". Britannia castles. Archived from the original on 31 May 2008. Retrieved 21 November 2007.
  3. 1 2 3 Dunning, Robert (1995). Somerset Castles. Tiverton: Somerset Books. pp. 47–51. ISBN   978-0-86183-278-1.
  4. ↑ Mackenzie, James Dixon (1897). The Castles of England: their story and structure. New York: Macmillan. p. 99.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Taunton Castle". Everything Exmoor. Archived from the original on 5 May 2008. Retrieved 21 November 2007.
  6. ↑ Barratt, John (2005). The civil war in the south west. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military. pp. 112–115. ISBN   1-84415-146-8.
  7. ↑ Bush, Robin (1994). Somerset: The Complete Guide. Dovecote Press. pp.  202–206. ISBN   1-874336-26-1.
  8. ↑ "Taunton's History". Taunton Town Centre!. Archived from the original on 3 June 2007. Retrieved 21 November 2007.
  9. ↑ "The Naseby Campaign". British Civil War Project. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  10. ↑ "The Bloody Assize". Somerset County Council. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
  11. ↑ "Donald E. Wilkes, Jr. Collection: The Bloody Assizes". University of Georgia. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  12. ↑ "Somerset's Judge Dread". BBC. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  13. 1 2 Historic England. "Taunton Castle (190841)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 11 July 2011.
  14. ↑ "The Good Ship Taunton Castle by David Dawson". Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 21 November 2007.
  15. ↑ "The Castle (The inhabited parts only), Castle Green (North side), Taunton". Somerset Historic Environment Record. Somerset County Council . Retrieved 11 July 2011.
  16. ↑ "The History of the Society". Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 9 October 2010.
  17. ↑ Hill, Phil (24 October 2007). "Plans go in for £6.5million museum". Somerset County Gazette. Retrieved 29 October 2007.
  18. ↑ Historic England. "Taunton Castle: a motte and bailey castle, part of the outer bailey, an Anglo-Saxon cemetery and a Civil War artillery platform (1013541)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 3 April 2013.
  19. ↑ "Castle House, The Castle, Castle Green, Taunton - Taunton Deane". Heritage at Risk. English Heritage. Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2013.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Taunton Castle at Wikimedia Commons

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.