Rougemont Castle, also known as Exeter Castle, is the historic castle of the city of
Exeter
Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol.
In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...
, Devon, England. It was built into the northern corner of the Roman city walls starting in or shortly after the year 1068, following Exeter's rebellion against
William the Conqueror
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...
. In 1136 it was besieged for three months by
King Stephen. An
outer bailey
An outer bailey or outer ward is the defended outer enclosure of a castle.Friar, Stephen (2003). ''The Sutton Companion to Castles'', Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2003, p. 22. It protects the inner bailey and usually contains those ancillary bui ...
, of which little now remains, was added later in the 12th century.
The castle is mentioned in Shakespeare's play ''
Richard III
Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battl ...
'' in a reference to that king's visit to Exeter in 1483. Devon's county court was located here from at least 1607, and the three
Devon Witches—the last people in England to be executed for witchcraft—were tried and convicted at the Exeter Assizes in 1682.
All the buildings inside the walls were swept away in the 1770s to make way for a new courthouse, which was extended by the addition of wings in 1895 and 1905. Because of its function as a court, the interior of the castle was not open to the public until the court moved to a new site in 2004. The entire site was later sold to a developer whose stated aim was to transform it into "the Covent Garden of the South West".
The castle is named after the red stone found in the hill, and used in the construction of the original buildings, of which the large early Norman gatehouse is the main remaining feature. It is surrounded on three sides by the
Rougemont Gardens
Rougemont Gardens is an ornamental open space adjacent to Rougemont Castle in the city of Exeter, Devon, England. It is Grade II listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. Originally part of the defences of the castle, it was ...
and
Northernhay Gardens
Northernhay Gardens are located in Exeter, Devon, England, on the northern side of Rougemont Castle. They are the oldest public open space in England, being originally laid out in 1612 as a pleasure walk for Exeter residents. The gardens are G ...
, public parks now maintained by Exeter City Council.
Construction and early history
![Rougemont Castle, 1845](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Rougemont_Castle%2C_1845.jpg)
After the
Norman conquest
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conque ...
of 1066,
Gytha, mother of the defeated
King Harold, was living in Exeter and this may have caused the city to become a centre of resistance to
William the Conqueror
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...
. Another reason for discontent may have been William's insistence that the city's traditional annual tribute of £18 must be increased. After Exeter's citizens rejected William's demand that they should swear an
oath of fealty
An oath of fealty, from the Latin ''fidelitas'' (faithfulness), is a pledge of allegiance of one person to another.
Definition
In medieval Europe, the swearing of fealty took the form of an oath made by a vassal, or subordinate, to his lord. "Fea ...
to him, he marched to the city in 1068 and laid siege to it for 18 days before it capitulated.
The citizens of Exeter had been able to withstand William's siege thanks to the city wall, which had been first built by the Romans and extensively repaired in around 928 by
King Athelstan
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
. Although the siege ended with the surrender of the city, William ordered a castle to be built within the wall to safeguard his position. The place selected was at the highest point, inside the northern angle of the wall,
on a volcanic outcrop.
The building of the castle was left to
Baldwin FitzGilbert
Baldwin FitzGilbert (died 1086-1091) (''alias'' Baldwin the Sheriff, Baldwin of Exeter, Baldwin de Meulles/Moels and Baldwin du Sap) was a Norman magnate and one of the 52 Devon Domesday Book tenants-in-chief of King William the Conqueror, of who ...
who was appointed
castellan
A castellan is the title used in Medieval Europe for an appointed official, a governor of a castle and its surrounding territory referred to as the castellany. The title of ''governor'' is retained in the English prison system, as a remnant o ...
, amongst other honours. A deep ditch and internal rampart were constructed between the north-western and north-eastern city walls, forming a roughly square enclosure with sides of about . The ''
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
'' of 1086 reported that 48 houses had been destroyed in Exeter since the King came to England—this has been interpreted by historians to mean that this many houses were on the site cleared for the castle. A large stone gatehouse, which still survives, was built into the bank at the south side of the enclosure. It has clear elements of
Anglo-Saxon architecture
Anglo-Saxon architecture was a period in the history of architecture in England from the mid-5th century until the Norman Conquest of 1066. Anglo-Saxon secular buildings in Britain were generally simple, constructed mainly using timber with that ...
, such as long-and-short
quoin
Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th century encyclopedia, t ...
s and double triangular-headed windows, suggesting that it was built very early by English masons on the Normans' orders. At this early stage the rampart was probably surmounted by a
stockade
A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls, made of logs placed side by side vertically, with the tops sharpened as a defensive wall.
Etymology
''Stockade'' is derived from the French word ''estocade''. The French word was derived ...
, though two corner turrets were soon built where the bank met the city walls, the western one of which (mistakenly known as "Athelstan's Tower") is still present.
The stockade was soon replaced by a masonry
curtain wall. The remains of this wall shows that it was bonded into the repaired city walls, but not the gatehouse, indicating that it was built from the former towards the latter.
Another early enhancement was the construction of a protective barbican over the city side of the drawbridge. There is evidence that the castle was attacked before it was completed. This evidence is both physical, in the form of repairs to Athelstan's Tower; and documentary, in a report made by
Orderic Vitalis
Orderic Vitalis ( la, Ordericus Vitalis; 16 February 1075 – ) was an English chronicler and Benedictine monk who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th- and 12th-century Normandy and Anglo-Norman England. Modern historia ...
of an attack made on Exeter in 1069.
In the early 12th century a chapel dedicated to St Mary was built within the castle walls. It had four
prebendaries
A prebendary is a member of the Roman Catholic or Anglican clergy, a form of canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in particular seats, usually at the back of the ...
and was said to have been founded by William de Avenell, a son of the castle-builder Baldwin FitzGilbert; de Avenell also founded a priory at nearby
Cowick.
The siege of 1136 and after
In 1136,
Baldwin de Redvers
Baldwin de Redvers, 1st Earl of Devon (died 4 June 1155), feudal baron of Plympton in Devon, was the son of Richard de Redvers and his wife Adeline Peverel.
He was one of the first to rebel against King Stephen, and was the only first rank magnat ...
seized the castle as part of his rebellion against
King Stephen. Although Stephen's army moved quickly to besiege the castle, Redvers was able to resist for three months until the failure of his water supply, which had been provided by a well and probably a rainwater cistern. It is possible that the absence of an eastern tower to match Athelstan's Tower is due to its destruction by undermining during this siege,
and the discovery in c. 1930 of a short section of crudely-built tunnel leading towards this point of the wall has been interpreted as associated with this event. It is also likely that the
barbican
A barbican (from fro, barbacane) is a fortified outpost or fortified gateway, such as at an outer fortifications, defense perimeter of a city or castle, or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defensive purposes.
Europe ...
was captured and destroyed at this time.
On a hill just to the north of the castle lies a small circular earthwork. It is known today as "Danes' Castle", but from the 12th century until the 16th it was called "New Castle". It was thought to be an
outwork
An outwork is a minor fortification built or established outside the principal fortification limits, detached or semidetached. Outworks such as ravelins, lunettes (demilunes), flèches and caponiers to shield bastions and fortification curtains ...
of Rougemont Castle, built to defend its northern side,
but following excavation in 1992 it is now believed to have been built by Stephen during his siege.
After Stephen's attack it appears that the advancing technology of
siege engine
A siege engine is a device that is designed to break or circumvent heavy castle doors, thick city walls and other fortifications in siege warfare. Some are immobile, constructed in place to attack enemy fortifications from a distance, while other ...
s prompted the construction in the late 12th century of an outer bailey. This consisted of a wall with an outer ditch which ran from the eastern city wall on the north side of Bailey Street—where the only remaining section of its wall survives—to the western city wall near today's
city museum, where portions of the infilled ditch were discovered during renovation works in 2009.
The castle continued to be repaired at intervals until the early 14th century; the last recorded repair to the defences being in 1352. By c.1500 the original gateway was out of use, and its entrance blocked up, in favour of an adjacent archway.
In the northernmost corner of the castle there was a
sally port
A sally port is a secure, controlled entry way to an enclosure, e.g., a fortification or prison. The entrance is usually protected by some means, such as a fixed wall on the outside, parallel to the door, which must be circumvented to enter an ...
beneath a large tower and a drawbridge over the ditch outside the wall. These were destroyed in 1774 and no trace now remains.
Although it has always officially been called "Exeter Castle", the more common name of "Rougemont Castle" first appeared in a local record dated around 1250. It refers to the red colour of the rock on the hill and the colour of the walls built from these rocks.
King Richard III
Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battl ...
visited Exeter in 1483 and in Shakespeare's ''
Richard III
Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battl ...
'', the bard makes him later recall a premonition of his death when he is shown the castle and confuses ''Rougemont'' with ''Richmond''. The castle was said to have been badly damaged during the
Second Cornish uprising of 1497
The Second Cornish uprising occurred in September 1497 when the pretender to the throne Perkin Warbeck landed at Whitesand Bay (Cornwall), Whitesand Bay, near Land's End, on 7 September with just 120 men in two ships.
Warbeck had seen the potent ...
when
Perkin Warbeck
Perkin Warbeck ( 1474 – 23 November 1499) was a pretender to the English throne claiming to be Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, who was the second son of Edward IV and one of the so-called "Princes in the Tower". Richard, were he alive, ...
and 6,000 Cornishmen entered the city, and by 1600 it was said to display "gaping chinks and an aged countenance."
17th to 20th centuries
![John Norden's 1617 plan of Rougemont Castle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/John_Norden%27s_1617_plan_of_Rougemont_Castle.png)
In 1607 a courthouse was built within the castle walls,
and in 1682 and 1685 the three
"Devon witches" were tried here, before being executed at
Heavitree
Heavitree is a historic village and parish situated formerly outside the walls of the City of Exeter in Devon, England, and is today an eastern district of that city. It was formerly the first significant village outside the city on the road to ...
. They were the last people in England to be executed for witchcraft; a plaque on the wall by the gatehouse commemorates the events.
The noted cartographer and chorographer,
John Norden
John Norden (1625) was an English cartographer, chorographer and antiquary. He planned (but did not complete) a series of county maps and accompanying county histories of England, the '' Speculum Britanniae''. He was also a prolific writer ...
produced a plan of the castle and its precincts in 1617. It shows, amongst other features, the newly built court houses, the chapel, the position of the castle well, the north sally-port and what may have been the ruined walls of a rectangular keep against the north-eastern wall.
The castle did not play a major role during the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, although in late 1642 Parliament authorised the City of Exeter to use £300 of public funds to fortify the city and perform repairs to the castle. Despite there being at least four
artillery batteries
In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to faci ...
at the castle, the city fell to the Royalists in 1643, then to the Parliamentarians in 1646. During part of the war the gatehouse was used as a prison.
[ (pdf file)]
In 1773 all the buildings within the castle walls were demolished and replaced with a courthouse built in limestone in the
Palladian
Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...
style. The design was by local architect Philip Stowey, amended by
James Wyatt
James Wyatt (3 August 1746 – 4 September 1813) was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1785 and was its president from 1805 to 1806.
Early life
W ...
.
At this time, the early-16th-century entrance arch was replaced by a new one, built of reclaimed stone and sporting a false portcullis. This remains the entrance to the site today.
The court buildings were extended to the west in 1895, creating offices for the new
county council
A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries.
Ireland
The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...
, and extended again in 1905 by the addition of a neo-Palladian wing to the east.
A section of the castle wall between the gatehouse and the eastern city wall was found to be in imminent state of collapse in 1891 and despite efforts to repair it, it fell in October of that year. The unstable part of the wall was that around the site of the circular tower shown on Norden's plan of 1617. It was speculated that when this tower was demolished (at an unknown date), the rebuild was of very poor quality. After the demolition of St Mary's chapel with the other buildings in the late 18th century, a lodge had been built close to the new castle entrance. This lodge was threatened by the unsafe wall and during works to make it safe, excavations in its floor revealed a number of human skeletons which were assumed to have been buried in the grounds of the chapel.
Thomas Westcote
Thomas Westcote (c. 1567 – c. 1637) (''alias'' Westcott) of Raddon in the parish of Shobrooke in Devon, was an English historian and topographer of Devon.
Biography
He was baptised at Shobrooke in Devon on 17 June 1567. He was the third son of ...
wrote in around 1630 that the chapel was "ruinous" and a document of 1639 records that
Bishop Hall was requested to assign the chapel precinct "for buryall of such Prisoners as shall die in the Gaole."
Other notable events that took place at the castle included a Monsieur St Croix making the first hot-air
balloon ascent
In aeronautics, a balloon is an unpowered aerostat, which remains aloft or floats due to its buoyancy. A balloon may be free, moving with the wind, or tethered to a fixed point. It is distinct from an airship, which is a powered aerostat that ...
in Exeter from the Castle yard in June 1786; and on 15 May 1832 the first Annual Exhibition of the Devon Agricultural Society, the forerunner of the
Devon County Show
The Devon County Show is an agricultural show held annually from Thursday to Saturday in the third week of May at the Westpoint Arena and Showground in Clyst St Mary near Exeter. It is one of a number of county shows in the United Kingdom. The ...
, was held here. The County Council moved to
Devon County Hall
Devon County Hall is a municipal building in Topsham Road, Exeter, Devon, England. The building, which is the headquarters of Devon County Council, is a Grade II* listed building.
History
Following the implementation of the Local Government Ac ...
in 1964.
21st century
![Witchplaque](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Witchplaque.JPG)
Until 2003 the intact
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
buildings of the castle remained the seat of royal power in the county and served as home to Exeter's Crown and County Courts. As a result, the castle was one of the least known and accessible parts of the city, and few local residents had set foot beyond its gates; it had never been accessible to tourists. However difficulties over disabled access on the steep castle site had become a major problem, and new courts were built in Exeter's legal quarter in 2004. Following the failure of a scheme for Exeter City Council to purchase the site, it was sold by
Her Majesty's Courts Service
Her Majesty's Courts Service (HMCS) was an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and was responsible for the administration of the civil, family and criminal courts in England and Wales.
It was created by the amalgamation of the Magi ...
in early 2007 to GL50 Properties, whose managing director said "Rougemont Castle is an amazing building which we will transform into the Covent Garden of the South West of England."
Today, the castle is subject to a high degree of legal protection as 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 ...
, and its main structures are all either Grade I or Grade II*
listed buildings
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
. A statue, dated 1863, by E. B. Stephens of the
1st Earl Fortescue stands in the yard: it is Grade II listed.
As the relevant
planning
Planning is the process of thinking regarding the activities required to achieve a desired goal. Planning is based on foresight, the fundamental capacity for mental time travel. The evolution of forethought, the capacity to think ahead, is consi ...
authority, the city council explained its concerns about the future of the castle. It stated its view that whatever its future use, the castle should be opened up to reasonable public access and integrated into the cultural quarter of the city as a key element, the historic importance and quality of the site and buildings should be respected, and at least the impressive courtyard of the castle should be available for public events even if the buildings are purchased for commercial use. As an example of this new use, the band
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University Col ...
played a charity concert in the courtyard in December 2009 during its
Viva la Vida Tour
The Viva la Vida Tour was the fourth concert tour undertaken by British rock band Coldplay. It was launched in support their fourth studio album, '' Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends'' (2008), becoming a massive commercial and critic ...
.
In 2011, the former Court 1 reopened as the Ballroom, with its arched windows lowered to floor level; lavatories were installed in the former holding cells for prisoners. Court 2 reopened as the Gallery, of 150 square metres. In addition, 12 new apartments were created within the walls of the castle.
[''The Times'' (London), 28 February 2011]
References
;Notes
;Bibliography
*
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External links
* Exeter Castle official website â€
www.exetercastle.co.uk
"Historic castle goes up for sale" (7 November 2005). BBC News
*{{gbmapping, SX921929
Castles in Devon
History of Exeter
Buildings and structures in Exeter
Tourist attractions in Exeter
1068 establishments in England
Ruins in Devon
Grade I listed buildings in Devon
Geology of Devon
Ruined castles in England