Following the usual preamble of the AGM, we turned towards, for many, the real topic of the day - castles. We were in one, so we did not have to go far for the morning's talk and first guided walk.

Chris Webster, who looks after such things for Taunton Castle, and indeed works there, described Taunton as a very complicated site, and the more that was discovered the less we knew about it. Before becoming fortified the site had housed an Anglo-Saxon minster church, evidenced by the many bodies buried in the grounds.

The original site had been on an area of raised land, surrounded by water, making it quite defensible. The Potwater stream fed into the Tone, but over time of it was progressively filled in so that it cannot now be seen. Little of the uses of the land was ever documented in the early stages, and the first proper record is in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 722 when, "Queen Aethelburg destroyed Taunton, which Ine had built, and Ealdbriht the exile went into Surrey and Sussex." This may have meant something to the writer, but leaves the rest of us wondering what it was all about, although Robin Bush suggests that it was [on behalf of her husband] “possibly to prevent its use by rebels”, not as a result of marital strife.

We are on firmer ground by 1138 when Henry de Blois, Bishop of Winchester, also Abbot of Glastonbury and [half-] brother to King Stephen, is said to have built five castles on his diocesan estates, which included Taunton, and a palace [Wolvesley] at Winchester. Did he really build five castles, or was the writer crediting him with undue grandeur? The kitchen at Wolvesley was disguised as a keep as: was this a caprice or was it to fool anyone looking from the outside into thinking that the defences were stronger than they looked? Apparently Henry was very keen on architecture and artistic effect. The early overall plan at Taunton was believed to be a rectangular keep, within a trapezoidal enclosure, associated with town defences, the castle sited in the north-west corner of the latter. Unusually the later western exit from the town, regarded as the focus of the wider manor of Taunton Deane, was actually via the wider castle precinct itself, while [according to the HER] the castle, and possible minster precinct, lies within the parish of Bishops Hull.

[Another of Bishop Henry’s castles, Merdon in Hampshire, was originally a hill fort which was converted into a castle. An appropriate introduction to what we were to see in the afternoon.]

Medieval replacement window in Taunton Castle

The subsequent history of the castle at Taunton is not always clear. What is clear that over the centuries its importance and involvement in national affairs waxed and waned and there were many corresponding changes in structural arrangements. Not all of these seem to have been clearly documented and many are unfortunately not necessarily susceptible to archaeological unravelling.

In 1874 the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society bought the castle, now under threat of demolition, and its site, to protect it and started excavations. They raised money for the project by charging visitors to see what was going on. Alas they decided to repair or ‘restore’ the ruins - but badly. They put such things as windows back in the wrong places and mixed period styles to show what might have been and to make it all look 'old.' The best one can say is 'creative', with very little archaeological recording. However, they did bequeath us some interesting photographs, which are of use to us now. One of these shows Henry Bidgood, curator of the Somerset County Museum, subsequently housed in the Castle, ‘repairing Taunton Castle in 1882’.

St. George Gray was the next to supervise work here; he worked with one builder and 'one other' in 1924, in the keep area. He was responsible for the Wyndham Hall and we sat on the original chairs bought for it. The bill for them still survives: £46. He also excavated the two barrel vaults, and made the Great Hall suitable for use as the Court by altering the doorways.  

We were just about to hear of the subsequent involvement of Ralegh Radford when the projector (or computer driving it) broke down, and refused to function. So while that was being attended to we did the tour of the Castle itself, but, much like a recalcitrant child, it was itself again after had we left it to consider its position.

Chris Webster started with the Great Hall (the Museum) and then on to the parts not open to the public. He explained in detail the development of the building and what was going to be done, and pointed out the ages of the various parts such as the windows, stairs and doorways. Some rooms have remained unchanged for many years, as demonstrated by the voting box with its 'Yea' and 'Nay' holes for accepting or declining candidates. We also had a brief foray into the rain to look at recent developments in the inner courtyard, where Chris explained some of the problems involved in the interpretation, and referred again to these when we resumed in the Wyndham Hall.

After lunch we proceeded to Castle Neroche on the Blackdowns [ST 273 157]. The weather was still wet but more noticeable here. When everyone had been rounded up we were introduced to Dr Stuart Prior, of Bristol University, who in turn introduced us to how we would approach the site. We were joined by Tanya James the Neroche Community History Officer from the Forestry Commission, which has been managing selective tree clearance on the site.

Dr Prior wanted to show us all the monuments we could see from Castle Neroche.  We could not see one of them.

This castle, too, had possibly been a hill fort in the Iron Age, although dating evidence was lacking, nothing being found from either that period or the Roman occupation, which was surprising in view of its strategic position. An alternative suggestion is that it might have been a Saxon burh before being converted to a castle, soon after the Conquest. However, the original ramparts were not where the Norman castle had been. Locally produced pottery evidence stylistically associated the site with northern France, and Count Robert of Mortain, a half brother of the Conqueror, is considered the most likely builder.

It is a very commanding site, and had it been a fine day we would have seen many other places, such as Montacute, Robert of Mortain’s principal castle in the West, and Glastonbury amongst other places. [Stuart explained that it was believed that Montacute had been erected as a deliberate insult to the conquered Anglo-Saxons, being sited on a hill where they believed that a fragment of the True Cross had been discovered.] As it was we saw rain and mist and just enough of the slope to realise why the invading Normans used it. There are two main sets of ramparts and it is hard to separate the complex development of the site over the centuries to its ultimate form of a classic motte and bailey castle.  

Neroche overlooks the present Devon/Somerset border and its topography implies that this border may well go back into the Iron Age or before. It also overlooks the present A303 (try writing that in Latin) which follows the old natural route from the east into the South-West and was, on archaeological evidence, followed by both the invading Romans and Normans, and is not far from the A38 to the north. Stuart explained that the Normans, and William in particular, appear to have been keen students of Roman military history and tactics, and very often emulated Roman military practices. He cited the building by the Normans of the keep at Colchester on top of the podium of the Temple of Claudius, which in turn, in its time had been an early statement by the Romans that they were here to stay. The Normans were

We could just see the Norman motte, and did manage to climb it.

saying the same thing to the indigenous population some one thousand years later.

By then the cold, rain and the altitude must have been affecting our senses, for we decided to climb the motte. This is north of the main ramparts, so we descended into the encircling ditch (wet and muddy, but not filled with water) and scrabbled up the steep path which fortunately has crude steps to prevent one slipping back down. It was worth doing. It would have been even better on a clear day. Originally the motte would have had a wall and tower of some kind at the top, reached by a bridge across the ditch. Having re-created the mediaeval fortifications in our imaginations we retreated to the car park as the heavens opened.

Despite the weather we had enjoyed ourselves and thanked Dr Prior for entertaining and informing us so well, and guiding us back through the ages. He had copies of his book, 'A few well positioned castles - The Norman Art of War' (published by Tempus) for sale, and some members took advantage of the offer.

I, for one, look forward to visiting Castle Neroche again soon on a fine day, but must remember to go well-shod.

©Andrew Smith &Teddy Francis 2008 AD