Castle Neroche
| Castle Neroche | |
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| Near Staple Fitzpaine, Somerset, England | |
Eastern earthworks at Castle Neroche
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 Castle Neroche
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| Coordinates | 50°56′13″N 3°02′15″W / 50.9370°N 3.0374°WCoordinates: 50°56′13″N 3°02′15″W / 50.9370°N 3.0374°W |
| Grid reference | grid reference ST272158 |
| Type | Motte and bailey on Bronze Age site |
Castle Neroche is a Norman motte-and-bailey castle on the site of an earlier hill fort in the parish of Curland, near Staple Fitzpaine, Somerset, England. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
The hill rises to 260 metres (850 ft) on the northern escarpment of the Blackdown Hills. The area is part of a 35 square miles (91 km2) site covered by a landscape partnership, known as the Neroche Scheme which is establishing trails and a public forest. It is led by the Forestry Commission and supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and local organisations.
The origin of the term Neroche is believed to be a contraction of the Old English words nierra and rechich or rachich for Rache, a type of hunting-dog used in Britain in the Middle Ages, giving a meaning of the camp where hunting dogs were kept. This also gives the site its alternative name of Castle Rache.
The reason for the construction of Iron Age hill forts has been a subject of debate. It has been argued that they could have been military sites constructed in response to invasion from continental Europe, sites built by invaders, or a military reaction to social tensions caused by an increasing population and consequent pressure on agriculture. The dominant view since the 1960s has been that the increasing use of iron led to social changes in Britain. Deposits of iron ore were separated from the sources of tin and copper necessary to make bronze, and as a result trading patterns shifted and the old elites lost their economic and social status. Archaeologist Barry Cunliffe believes that population increase played a role and has stated "[the forts] provided defensive possibilities for the community at those times when the stress [of an increasing population] burst out into open warfare. But I wouldn't see them as having been built because there was a state of war. They would be functional as defensive strongholds when there were tensions and undoubtedly some of them were attacked and destroyed, but this was not the only, or even the most significant, factor in their construction". There is little evidence of Iron Age remains however the situation and shape of the site matches other Iron Age enclosures. There is some indication that the site was strengthened with an additional rampart and outer enclosure.
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