More information : [SK 9540 5875] Somerton Castle [G.T.] (1)
Antony Bek, Bishop of Durham, received a licence to crenellate this castle in 1281. Of the original building the following parts remain:-
The SE tower with 3 storeys and a conical roof, and the ground floors of the N.E. and S.W. towers. Attached to the SE tower is the south front extended by an Elizabethan wing before 1595, part of which may be the original curtain wall. More curtain wall is attached to the SW tower base.
King John I of France was confined here after being taken prisoner at Poitiers in 1356.
The castle, which is double moated, remained Crown property till Victorian times.
Scheduled. RB potsherds were found 5 ft down when an inspection pit was dug at SK 95395876 in 1958. (2-6)
Structural remains at the castle survive as above, integrated into farmhouse and outbuildings.
See G.P's AO/64/369/4, 6, 8 & 370/1.
Published survey (25") revised.
No information was gained concerning the Roman pottery. (7)
Medieval earthworks associated with Somerton Castle were mapped from good quality air photographs. The main feature is a huge ditch (40m wide) and bank running around three sides of a raised platform (at SK 9541 5871) upon which part of the castle may have stood. At the southern edge of this platform is a small pond 36m by 8m. To the north of the present farm are three sides of a long moat, centred at SK 9544 5892. In close proximity to this moat and probably associated with it are three small ponds, ranging in length from 30m to 52m. There are three mounds located near the castle earthworks, two to the east at SK 9554 5883, SK 9553 5880 and one to the west at SK 9535 5890. They are roughly circular, 10m in diameter and of unknown function. To the east of the main earthworks, at SK 9561 5864, is a pond which appears to be of the same type of construction as parts of the castle earthworks.
Immediately south of the main large ditch and bank is a complete, roughly square moat, 80m by 70m, centred at SK 9533 5856 also assumed to be Medieval in date. (Morph Nos. LI.878.1.1 - 1.7)
This description is based on data from the RCHME MORPH2 database. (8)
Antony Bek, Bishop of Durham, had inheritted Somerton Castle from his mother, Eva de Grey, and been granted licence to crenellate it in 1281. In 1309 he granted the castle to Edward II. A survey of 1328 showed the great hall, chapel and other buildings to be delapidated, and the foundations of the ange towers undercut by the moat. In 1372, the stables in the outer bailey, which could hold circa 100 horses, collapsed. From 1421 it was little repaired and in 1628 was described as being long a ruin. (9) |