Bridgwater Castle

Even though a casual visitor might say “Where is the castle?” one of the most exciting attractions of Bridgwater is an exploration of the old castle and see remains of what was once an impressive fortress with lots of historical associations. Lower Lakes offers excellent accommodation for anyone wishing to spend a holiday doing historical research. We are only 5 minutes drive from car parks or free parking close to the site.

The story goes back to Plantagenet times when Bridgwater Castle was built by permission of King John between 1200 and 1210 by one William Briwere.

It followed the Norman design of an outer wall, 12-15 feet thick surrounded by a moat 30 feet wide on three sides and the River Parrett on the forth. It had round towers at each corner, and was built on a base of Blue Lias stone from Central Somerset from red Wembdon Sandstone and fawn-coloured Ham Stone from South Somerset for the trim. Within the enclosed 9 acres was a complex of buildings including a keep, chapel, barn, kitchen, cellar, dungeon, smithy, stables, dovecote and a residence on the higher ground.

Bridgwater Castle boundaries today are marked by Fore Street to the Cornhill on the south, Castle Moat on the west, Chandos Street on the north, and the River Parrett on the east. The two entrances to the castle were the Town or Market Entrance opening on to the Cornhill, and the Water Gate entrance opening on to the river, each entrance being protected by barbican towers plus a drawbridge and portcullis.

King John stayed here when he came to hunt in North Petherton Forest.

In 1219 the chapel within Bridgwater Castle was among the churches served by priests from St. John's Hospital in Eastover. It was dedicated to St. Mark, and even in 1535 mass was celebrated three times a week for the souls of the founder and of King John. The chapel was of stone with a stone-tiled roof and a bell tower.

William Briwere died in 1226, leaving Bridgwater Castle and the manor to his son and heir, William, who died 7 years later without any successor. The Crown had custody from 1233-48 when constables were appointed and parts of the castle used as a prison and a store.

In 1248 the estate passed to the eldest sister, Grecia, who was married to Reginald Braose, Lord of Brecknock. He died in 1222, leaving a son William who was murdered by Llewellyn, the Prince of Wales. His eldest daughter Maud married successively Roger de Mortimer (d. 1282) and William Mortimer (d. 1297). Her share of Bridgwater was the castle and one third of the borough and manor known as Bridgwater Castle Manor. She died in 1301 when her heir was Edmund, a son by her first husband. It was Edmund’s son, Roger Mortimer, First Earl of March who played a prominent part in the intrigues of the Wars of the Roses, and was subsequently hung at Tyburn in 1330.

The Crown again occupied the castle 1322-6 in case Roger Mortimer should escape from the Tower and use it as a base for operations in Wales. His father Edmund, who was made Baron Mortimer in 1295 and died in 1304, held Bridgwater Castle jointly with his wife Margaret, who survived until 1334.   

The heir to Bridgwater Castle was Margaret’s great-grandson Lord Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, who died in 1360, leaving the estate in dower to his widow Philippe. From then the estate was usually held in dower by the Mortimers' widows. Philippe was followed by her grandson Roger (died 1398), whose widow Eleanor died in 1405. Her son Edmund died in 1425, and when his widow Anne died in 1432 the heir was his nephew Richard Plantagenet, duke of York.

Richard's widow Cecily, duchess of York, held the castle and the third share of the borough and manor from her husband's death in 1460 until her own in 1495, when the estate merged with the Crown.

In the 1380s, when Bridgwater Castle formed part of the network of the Mortimer estates in the West and Wales, small repairs were regularly made both to the defences and to buildings within the walls. A substantial oak palisade was rebuilt on the north side in 1394-5; the eastern wall, strengthened with at least two towers, one at each corner, was frequently repaired. The main town entrance gave access across the outer drawbridge to the outer bailey; an 'inner bridge facing the tower within the ditch' led to a second drawbridge and the inner bailey. Two other towers stood at the time.

Around 1400, Bridgwater Castle included buildings within the inner bailey such as chambers for estate officials, a kitchen, and a horse mill. Detached buildings included stables, a dovecot, and a chapel. A barn mentioned in 1347 seems to have been converted from being a hay store in the 1390s to the castle hall, known as Mortimer’s Hall. Vaults beneath ground level acted as both dungeons and wine cellars.  There are numerous buildings in the Castle Street area where these undercroft vaults still exist and some were used by the Customs House which was once at the lower end of Castle Street and perpetuated in the naming of Bond Street.

A new chamber was mentioned in 1408, and three men were ordered by the manor court to return two guns to the castle; the bailey was being used to graze cattle and for archery practice. Private dwellings had been established within the walls by the 1450s.

Successive owners from the earlier 15th century appointed their retainers to offices such as doorkeepers and constables.

In 1476, in consideration of his many services to the monarch, Edward IV granted Giles Dawbenny from South Petherton the custody of the King's Park in North Petherton. On the accession of Richard of York to the throne, this Giles Dawbenny was one of those with whom Margaret ,Countess of Richmond, mother of Henry VII, conspired about her son taking the throne. After his victory at Bosworth Field, King Henry appointed Giles to be one of his chief councilors, as well as constable of the Castle of Bristol and Master of the Mint. He also conferred upon him the title of Lord Dawbenny. For a time, Bridgwater Castle was the possession of Queen Elizabeth, the wife of Henry VII, but on her death in 1503 it again passed to the Crown and Dawbenny was made constable of the Bridgwater Castle. He died 4 years afterwards and was interred at St. Paul's Chapel, Westminster. He was succeeded by his only son Henry, who was made Earl of Bridgwater by Henry VIII. He married Catherine, daughter of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, but died without an heir and the title became extinct.

In the 1530s and 1540s one man was described as constable and bailiff of the ditches of the castle, and the keepership was a Crown appointment until ca 1607. By 1502, buildings had been erected on each side of the main gate of the castle, which by then gave access from the High Cross (where the “Spirit of Carnival” stands today) and the market to Bridgwater Castle.

Catherine of Aragon as princess of Wales received the share as part of her jointure in 1509, but in 1511 it was given to two daughters of Edward IV, namely Katharine, recently widowed countess of Devon, and Anne, wife of Sir Thomas Howard. After Anne’s death in 1512 and Katharine’s in 1527, the estate again reverted to the Crown and formed part of the jointure of the wives of Henry VIII - Anne Boleyn (executed 1536), Jane Seymour (died 1537), Anne of Cleves (marriage annulled 1540), Catherine Howard (executed 1542), and Catherine Parr (died 1548). Bridgwater Castle then reverted to the Crown and was let.

Even in the 1540s Bridgwater Castle was described as 'all going to mere ruin', and in 1548 'the old frame of the castle' was reported as having fallen down and been removed to the house of the customer of the port. In 1565 royal commissioners suggested that the buildings be demolished to provide a site and materials for a customs house and a new quay. A house was being built within the castle in 1566-7 at the expense of the town, but no further work has been traced until Henry Harvey's house 'by the bridge', built ca 1637, was damaged or destroyed in the siege in 1645.

King Charles I granted to Sir William Whitmore, and George Whitmore, Esq., and their heirs, the manor and castle of Bridgwater. The Whitmores sold the estate to Henry Harvey, Esq., of Bridgwater, who leased Bridgwater Castle out to Edward Wyndham, the King's governor, two years before it was besieged by the Parliamentary army under Sir Thomas Fairfax in 1645. After the Civil War, Bridgwater Castle was pretty well demolished by the Parliamentarians, and then the ruins cannibalized for building stone for other purposes.

There were still some ruins when James Brydges, First Duke of Chandos, bought the entire site of Bridgwater Castle and began a commercial development in Castle Street in 1723.

Civil engineering works in the town are continually unearthing finds relating to Bridgwater Castle. In 2008 sections of castle wall penetrated by 10ft deep passages were discovered by water engineers carrying out routine maintenance work on pipes below Castle Street, and believed to be some kind of sewage system from the castle (although some would have preferred that they were tunnels for smuggling goods from the quayside!)

Although little remains of Bridgwater Castle above ground we can reconstruct what it was like from old illustrations and when walking around the area imagine what it must have been like in its former glory.

Beginning at the Cornhill, we can enter the Outer Bailey through the Town Gate. Today this is the small lane to the east of the National Westminster Bank.

The site of the former Town gate to Bridgwater Castle

This leads to King Square and on this higher ground the Upper or Inner Bailey was built. The road to the left leads to Castle Moat which follows the line of the western moat. Archaeological excavations revealed that the moat was up to 60 feet wide in places, with fixed and draw bridges. By the 18th century it was reduced to a ditch on the north side.

King Square and the site of the Upper or Inner Bailey

Leading off Castle Street is Queen Street, and in 1993 construction work revealed an old sandstone rubble wall which was part of some building within the castle precinct.

 
Part of a building within the castle in Queen Street.

The buildings on the north side of Fore Street are built on the line of the old filled-in moat.

Fore Street. The buildings to the left of Blake’s Statue follow the line of the moat on the south side of Bridgwater Castle. At the back of Boots the Chemist a section of wall and evidence of a well can be seen.

Looking up Court Street, you can see how the ground rises from Fore Street to the Courthouse, where once people passed from the high castle ground, over the site of the moat and into the town.

The rising ground from Fore Street at moat level to the higher castle ground

On the east side of Bridgwater Castle was the Water Gate admitting merchandise from the river. Hidden away in the alley next to the Water Gate Hotel and Tex Mex is the medieval stone archway that provided access to the castle.

The actual Water gate is in the alleyway between the two buildings

Further along West Quay, the large stone wall running parallel to the river below West Quay Business Centre is the original Bridgwater Castle wall. It is 3.5 metres thick at the base, and there was probably some kind of timber quay along the side of the river for the unloading of cargo.

Part of the original castle wall at West Quay

The line of the bank of the moat was identified during excavations on the north side of Chandos Street, and in 1984 excavations at castle Bastion revealed the foundations of Bridgwater Castle’s north eastern stone tower, which are still intact below Homecastle House.