Taunton Castle

Taunton Castle
Location within Somerset
General information
Town or city	Taunton
Country	England
Coordinates	51°00′55″N 3°06′50″W / 51.0153°N 3.1138°W / 51.0153; -3.1138
Construction started	1107
Completed	1129
Client	William Giffard

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.

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, however it is unlikely this was on the site of the current castle. 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.

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. It was his successor, Henry of Blois, who transformed the manor-house here into a mighty castle in 1138, during the Civil War that raged during the reign of his brother, King Stephen. In 1216, Bishop Peter des Roches, a supporter of King John, defended the castle during a barons' revolt. 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.