Trowbridge Castle was a

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

in Trowbridge,

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

.First mention of Trowbridge Castle
: ''Local Authority Publishing'' website. Retrieved on 25 January 2008. It is thought to have been a

motte-and-bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...

castle, and its influence can still be seen in the town today. Fore Street follows the path of the castle ditch, and town has a Castle Street and the Castle Place Shopping Centre. The only surviving ruins are a ditch along Fore Street and a possible fragment of curtain wall found in 1986.

History

It is likely the Castle was built by

Humphrey I de Bohun Humphrey I de Bohun (died ''c''.1123), of Trowbridge Castle in Wiltshire, ''jure uxoris'' 3rd feudal baron of Trowbridge, was an Anglo-Norman nobleman who by his lucrative marriage became "the founder of the fortunes of his family", later prominen ...

during the 1100s but before his death around 1123. The first records of Trowbridge Castle date to 1139 when it was besieged. Within Trowbridge Castle was a 10th-century Anglo-Saxon church, which no longer exists today. Henry de Bohun turned this to secular use and instead had a new church built outside the Castle; this was the first St James's Church, in the base of the tower of the present-day church. By the 14th century, it was no longer used as a fort, and by the time John Leland visited in 1540, it was in ruins. In 1670, Aubrey referred to it as a "''ruinated castle of the Dukes of Lancaster''". Potsherds dating to the 17th century indicate that the castle fell out of use around 1600.Timbs, J. and Gunn, A., 1872, Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales Vol. 2 (London) p. 12 online copy In 1875 Canon Jones made a detailed plan and description of the remains of the castle, noting that fragments of the ditch, tower and ramparts were extant. Today, the tower and ramparts are no longer extant. The first excavations, at Court Street, between 1902 and 1924 found 12th-century tombstones and burials that were associated with the castle. Later excavations in 1986 found a ruined

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

wall probably pertaining to the outer curtain wall of the castle, which would make the wall one of the last surviving ruins of the castle. The ditch along Fore Street was successfully located in 1988, although nowadays it is hard to spot.

References

Castles in Wiltshire Buildings and structures completed in 1139 {{castle-stub