Devizes Castle was a medieval fortification in the town of

Devizes Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century civil war between ...

, Wiltshire, England, on a site now occupied by a Victorian-era

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 ...

. It is a Grade I listed building. The original castle (not currently visible) was overbuilt by the current structure. Records indicate that the first castle on the site had its origins in about 1080 as an early Norman motte and bailey with wooden pallisade and tower.

Medieval building

The first

motte-and-bailey castle 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 t ...

on this site was probably built around 1080 by

Osmund Osmund (Latin ''Osmundus'') is a Germanic name composed of the word ''Os'' meaning "god" and ''mund'' meaning "protection." Osmund or Osmond may refer to: Pre-modern era :''Ordered chronologically'' * Osmund of Sussex (), a king of Sussex * Osm ...

Bishop of Salisbury The Bishop of Salisbury is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset. The see is in the City of Salisbury where the bishop's seat ...

. It is first mentioned in 1106, when Robert of Normandy was imprisoned in it, and, despite reports, it is not mentioned in 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. It became known by its Latin name ''Castrum ad divisas'', the castle at the boundaries, because it was located at a place where three parishes joined. That later evolved into the word Devizes.http://www.devizesheritage.co.uk/devizescastle.html, Devizes Castle, Devizes, Wiltshirehttps://www.britainexpress.com/attractions.htm?attraction=1974, Devizes Castle The town grew around the castle. The original structure burned down in 1113 and was rebuilt in stone by

Roger, Bishop of Salisbury Roger of Salisbury (died 1139), was a Normans, Norman medieval bishop of Salisbury and the seventh Lord Chancellor and Lord Keeper of Norman England, England. Life Roger was originally priest of a small chapel near Caen in Duchy of Normandy, Norm ...

, by 1120. In that era, it was said (by an unknown source) that it was the most beautiful fortress in Europe. He occupied it under

Henry I Henry I may refer to: 876–1366 * Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936) * Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955) * Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018) * Henry I of France (1008–1060) * Henry I the Long, Margrave of the N ...

and the castle was claimed by

Stephen, King of England Stephen (1092 or 1096 – 25 October 1154), often referred to as Stephen of Blois, was King of England from 22 December 1135 to his death in 1154. He was Count of Boulogne ''jure uxoris'' from 1125 until 1147 and Duke of Normandy from 1135 unti ...

in the 1130s;

Empress Matilda Empress Matilda ( 7 February 110210 September 1167), also known as the Empress Maude, was one of the claimants to the English throne during the civil war known as the Anarchy. The daughter of King Henry I of England, she moved to Germany as ...

once took it but returned the castle to King Stephen when he threatened to kill her son. Matilda later reclaimed it and held the castle for some time. The property was owned by the Crown until the 17th Century. It was used as a prison by Henry II and Henry III. It went on to become the property of

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

who gifted it to his wife

Catherine of Aragon Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine, ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 11 June 1509 until their annulment on 23 May 1533. She was previously ...

and then reclaimed it after their divorce.https://www.mansionglobal.com/articles/a-grand-english-castle-in-the-wiltshire-countryside-118609, A Grand English Castle in the Wiltshire Countryside Important prisoners were held at the castle, including (from 1106)

Robert Curthose Robert Curthose, or Robert II of Normandy ( 1051 – 3 February 1134, french: Robert Courteheuse / Robert II de Normandie), was the eldest son of William the Conqueror and succeeded his father as Duke of Normandy in 1087, reigning until 1106. ...

, eldest son of

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 Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 10 ...

, and (in 1232)

Hubert de Burgh Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent (; ; ; c.1170 – before 5 May 1243) was an English nobleman who served as Chief Justiciar of England and Ireland during the reigns of King John and of his son and successor King Henry III and, as a consequenc ...

. Also, in 1206,

John, King of England John (24 December 1166 – 19 October 1216) was King of England from 1199 until his death in 1216. He lost the Duchy of Normandy and most of his other French lands to King Philip II of France, resulting in the collapse of the Angevin ...

held his second wife Isabella here as a prisoner.

Civil War and afterwards

In 1643, 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 polici ...

, the castle was occupied by

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gov ...

troops and

besieged Besieged may refer to: * the state of being under siege * ''Besieged'' (film), a 1998 film by Bernardo Bertolucci {{disambiguation ...

Parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...

forces under Sir

William Waller Sir William Waller JP (c. 159719 September 1668) was an English soldier and politician, who commanded Parliamentarian armies during the First English Civil War, before relinquishing his commission under the 1645 Self-denying Ordinance. ...

. However, three days later in the

Battle of Roundway Down The Battle of Roundway Down was fought on 13 July 1643 near Devizes, in Wiltshire during the First English Civil War. Despite being outnumbered and exhausted after riding overnight from Oxford, a Royalist cavalry force under Lord Wilmot won a c ...

, Waller's army was routed by Royalist forces. At that time it was a base for Lord Hopton's forces. The castle and town remained in Royalist hands under the military governorship of Sir Charles Lloyd, the King's Chief Engineer, who defended the town against repeated attacks and bombardments by the Parliamentarians. In September 1645,

Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

with large forces and heavy artillery invaded the town and laid siege to the castle, which surrendered after a bombardment by the 5,000 man Parliamentary army. In May 1648 the castle was dismantled following a Parliamentary Order, a process known as

slighting Slighting is the deliberate damage of high-status buildings to reduce their value as military, administrative or social structures. This destruction of property sometimes extended to the contents of buildings and the surrounding landscape. It is ...

. The stone used for building other local structures. The original castle (below the current castle) became 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 ...

in 1953 based on excavations at the site. The

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

report provided this information:

The motte and bailey castle at Devizes survives well and is a good example of its type. Despite part of the remains of the original castle having been built over, the motte and the ditch are imposing features, and the relationship between castle and town can still be seen. Additional evidence relating to the castle has been revealed by excavation, and the unexcavated parts of the castle motte, moat and bailey will contain archaeological information and environmental evidence relating to the castle and the landscape in which it was constructed. There is good documentary evidence to show the history of the castle. Devizes Castle had its origins in about 1080 as an early Norman motte and bailey with wooden pallisade and tower ... The castle was used as an Italian prisoner of war camp in WW2. The castle has left its mark on the plan and development of the town of Devizes, where elements of the defensive system, and the way in which the town was laid out around the castle, can still be seen in the town plan today.

In her book ''

Northanger Abbey ''Northanger Abbey'' () is a coming-of-age novel and a satire of Gothic novels written by Jane Austen. Austen was also influenced by Charlotte Lennox's '' The Female Quixote'' (1752). ''Northanger Abbey'' was completed in 1803, the first of ...

'', written in 1803,

Jane Austen Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...

referred to the town, but not the castle; in the book John Thorpe was to stop there during one of his journeys.

Victorian rebuilding

In 1838 the castle lands were acquired by J. N. Tylee who sold them in 1838 to Valentine Leach, a Devizes tradesman. The present

castellated A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwa ...

'castle', in a mixture of Neo-Norman and

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

styles, was designed by

Henry Goodridge Henry Edmund Goodridge (1797, Bath – 26 October 1864) was an English architect based in Bath. He worked from the early 1820s until the 1850s, using Classical, Italianate and Gothic styles. Life He was born in Bath in 1797 the son of James Goo ...

, an architect from Bath. It was begun about 1840 with a boldly asymmetrical design, and was extended northwards in the 1860s and succeeding decades. The north tower incorporates the remains of a 17th-century brick windmill. According to the National Heritage List, excavations of the keep and aisled building were first done in 1858 and indicated "a number of lesser buildings surrounding the hall". The moat was excavated in 1860 when Leach was enlarging the castle. By that time, excavations had already found the footings of the former hall piers. Subsequently the property has had a succession of owners, including Sir Charles Rich, Bt. (d. 1913), who made some alterations. In 1951 it was sold in two lots, named "North Tower" and "South Tower". The current castle, with its turrets, towers and castellations, on a 2.4 acre property, was

Grade I listed 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 I ...

in 1972 as DEVIZES CASTLE INCLUDING GLASS HOUSE AND GARDEN WALLS ENCIRCLING WEST SIDE OF MOUND. The listing provides specifics as to modifications and enlargement made in the 1860s, 70s and 80s. The interior is described as "designed in a mixture of neo-Norman, Gothic and C16 styles. The drawing room and bedroom in the northern section facing west have the partly original frames of C16 or early C17 ceilings inserted with carved and gilded bosses, small brackets and ribs, the whole completed in plaster".

21st century

A 2004 report indicated that the owner of the North Tower area at the time was Edward Owen while Mark Lovell owned the South Tower area. News coverage in March 2009 stated that Jonathan Lewis was then the owner of the "main section and the north tower". A news item in March 2009 stated that "the present owner ... f"the main section and the north tower of the 1830s castellated mansion" was Jonathan Lewis. By November 2010, the "north tower and main area" of the castle had been purchased by Julia Dempster. In March 2019, a news article stated that "the castle" was then owned by Lavender Howard but did not specify which section. The "principal part" of the castle with gardens in front and rear, was listed for sale in 2018 and again in 2019. Some documents referred to it as "semi-detached" because of the South Tower area which was not included in the sale. Specifics as to the current status of the principal part of the castle became available at that time. It was said to be a 9,117-square-foot mansion with nine bedrooms, eight according to some sources, and six full bathrooms. The property included a 2.4-acre lot. Photographs published by ''Country Life'' indicated that a great deal of modernization had been completed, and also provided this information:

There are stone mullioned windows, detailed stone archways, cavernous fireplaces, oak floorboards, and spiral staircases ... Several of the rooms – including the drawing room and study – have ornate ceilings with gilded bosses, while the ‘fernery’ accessed via the drawing room has a beautiful encaustic tiled floor and a wooden ceiling ... There are eight bedrooms in total, five of which are on the second floor, with one more on the first floor and the other two on the third floor – including one in the turret ... The living spaces are set across the ground and first floors, and include a huge kitchen/breakfast room, grand entrance hall with wooden staircase, a library and a long gallery.

References

* Fry, Plantagenet Somerset, ''The David & Charles Book of Castles'', David & Charles, 1980.

External links