Down End Castle, also known as Downend Castle, Chisley Mount or Chidley Mount, was a
motte-and-bailey castle at Down End, north of
Dunball
Dunball is a small hamlet west of the village of Puriton and close to the town of Bridgwater, Somerset, England.
Just north of Dunball is Down End which is the site of Down End Castle a motte-and-bailey castle, which has been designated as ...
in the parish of
Puriton
Puriton is a village and parish at the westerly end of the Polden Hills, in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England. The parish has a population of 1,968. The local parish church is dedicated to St Michael and All Angels. A chapel on Woola ...
,
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
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, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
, England. It has been designated as a
Scheduled Ancient Monument
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change.
The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...
.
History
Down End Castle was built at Down End, north of Dunball in Somerset, England. The castle has a motte and bailey design, with the two baileys lying to the north of the motte; the inner bailey has one bank and the outer one a double bank.
The mound measures across the top, and may have exploited an existing
Viking
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
site. The castle was once fed water by a
natural spring
A spring is a point of exit at which groundwater from an aquifer flows out on top of Earth's crust (pedosphere) and becomes surface water. It is a component of the hydrosphere. Springs have long been important for humans as a source of fres ...
at the base of the motte.
Recent academic work has suggested that the castle was built around 1100, after the surrounding region of Somerset had become stable in the years following the
Norman invasion of England and the subsequent Anglo-Saxon rebellion against Norman rule. The location Down End was strategically well placed, as the nearby
Parrett is an important tidal river, essential for trade during the early medieval period.
[Prior, p.89.] The de Columbers were probably responsible for building the castle, which also enjoyed a good defensive position on a natural ridge, protected by several nearby streams; the family also built nearby
Stowey Castle.
Norman and later pottery and iron objects were found during excavations in 1908; these match those found at the nearby castle of
Neroche, also built around 1100.
Down End became a new borough town in 1225, but may have existed as a settlement and port from 1159 onwards; the de Columbers were lords of the manor of nearby Puriton in the late 12th century. After the creation of
Bridgwater town and
castle, however, Down End began to face fierce competition as a port: Bridgwater eventually became dominant and Down End went into decline. Today only the earthworks remain, and the site is a
scheduled monument
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change.
The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...
.
See also
*
Castles in Great Britain and Ireland
Castles have played an important military, economic and social role in Great Britain and Ireland since their introduction following the Norman invasion of England in 1066. Although a small number of castles had been built in England in the 1050 ...
*
List of castles in England
This list of castles in England is not a list of every building and site that has "castle" as part of its name, nor does it list only buildings that conform to a strict definition of a castle as a medieval fortified residence. It is not a li ...
Notes
References
Bibliography
*Chater, A. G. and F. Albany. (1909) "Excavations at Downend, near Bridgwater, 1908", ''Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society'' 55, pp. 162–7.
*Creighton, Oliver Hamilton. (2005) ''Castles and Landscapes: Power, Community and Fortification in Medieval England.'' London: Equinox. .
*Dunning, Robert. (1995) ''Somerset Castles.'' Tiverton, UK: Somerset Books. .
*Gathercole, Clare. (2003)
An Archaeological Assessment of Down End: Somerset Extensive Urban Survey'. Taunton, UK: Somerset County Council.
*Prior, Stuart. (2006)
The Norman Art of War: a Few Well-Positioned Castles.' Stroud, UK: Tempus. {{ISBN, 0-7524-3651-1.
Castles in Somerset
Scheduled monuments in Sedgemoor