| Walton Castle | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | Clevedon, North Somerset, England |
| Coordinates | 51°27′06″N2°50′33″W / 51.451755°N 2.842477°W Coordinates: 51°27′06″N2°50′33″W / 51.451755°N 2.842477°W |
| Built | 17th century |
| Restored | 1984 |
| Restored by | Margarita Hamilton |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
| Designated | 22 July 1987 [1] |
| Reference no. | 1312696 |
Walton Castle is a 17th-century, Grade II listed mock castle set upon a hill in Clevedon, North Somerset, England, [2] on the site of an earlier Iron Age hill fort. [3]
The Domesday Book records the site as belonging to "Gunni The Dane", however the structure that occupies the site was built sometime between 1615 and 1620 by John Poulett, 1st Baron Poulett. [4] The castle was designed as a hunting lodge for Lord Poulett, a Somerset MP. The English Civil War saw the decline of Poulett's fortunes, and by 1791 the castle was derelict and being used as a dairy by a local farmer. [5]
In the early 19th century, the manor of Walton in Gordano, including Walton Castle was bought by Philip John Miles [6] who also held properties and extensive estates elsewhere including Kings Weston House, Leigh Court, Cardigan Priory and Underdown in Ledbury, Herefordshire, whence his family had originally come.
The castle passed through the Miles family by descent and in 1975, the castle's owner, Sir William Miles, the 6th Baronet, offered to give the ruin to the public if some money could be found to preserve it. The estimate for this rose from £6,000 to £46,000 and the plan fell through, as did a plan to set up a trust.
In 1979, Sir William Miles's daughter and his son-in-law, Martin Sessions-Hodge, spent £100,000 and over a year restoring the ruin into a five-bedroom, three-bathroom house.
In 1984 they sold it to Rai and Margarita Hamilton, a financier and record studio owner respectively. The couple made further alterations to the castle, though some of these had to be reinstated due to problems with unauthorised removal of crenellations on a listed building. [7] [8] Margarita regularly hosted charity events at the castle into the late 1990s, but in 1996 the couple separated. After the council formally warned Margarita over the number of noise abatement complaints, in 2013 she sold her share of the castle for £1.5M to Walton Properties Ltd., a Guernsey company in which her estranged husband has a minority interest.
In 2009 comedian Bill Bailey was guest of honour at an event designed to raise funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust. [9]
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North Somerset is a unitary district in Somerset, South West England. Whilst its area covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset, it is administered independently of the non-metropolitan county. Its administrative headquarters is in the town hall in Weston-super-Mare.
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Gordano is an area of North Somerset, in England. It has been designated as a National Nature Reserve.
Walton in Gordano is a village and civil parish in North Somerset, England. It is situated in a small valley at the side of the south-western end of the Gordano Valley, about a mile from Clevedon. The parish has a population of 273.
Cadbury Camp is an Iron Age hill fort in Somerset, England, near the village of Tickenham. It is a scheduled monument. Although primarily known as a fort during the Iron Age it is likely, from artefacts, including a bronze spear or axe head, discovered at the site, that it was first used in the Bronze Age and still occupied through the Roman era into the sub-Roman period when the area became part of a Celtic kingdom. The name may mean "Fort of Cador" - Cado(r) being possibly the regional king or warlord controlling Somerset, Bristol, and South Gloucestershire, in the middle to late 5th century. Cador has been associated with Arthurian England, though the only evidence for this is the reference in the Life of St. Carantoc to Arthur and Cador ruling from Dindraithou and having the power over western Somerset to grant Carantoc's plea to build a church at Carhampton. Geoffrey of Monmouth invented the title 'Duke of Cornwall' for Cador in his misleading History of the Kings of Britain.
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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.
The Anglican Church of SS Peter & Paul, Weston in Gordano, Somerset, England, has been designated as a Grade I listed building.
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There are over 670 scheduled monuments in the ceremonial county of Somerset in South West England. The county 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.