Stowey Castle
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox Military Structure Stowey Castle (or Nether Stowey Castle known locally as The Mount) was a Norman motte-and-bailey castle, built in the 11th century, in the village of Nether Stowey on the Quantock Hills in Somerset, England. It has been designated as a Scheduled Monument,[1] the foundations of the keep are also a Grade I listed building.[2][3]
Details
The Castle is sited on a small isolated knoll of Leighland Slates of the Devonian series, about Script error: No such module "convert". high. It consisted of a square keep, (which may have been stone, or a wooden superstructure on stone foundations) and its defences, and an outer and an inner bailey.[4] The mount is Script error: No such module "convert". above the Script error: No such module "convert". wide ditch which itself is Script error: No such module "convert". deep. The motte has a flat top. The central area is occupied by approximately square foundations Script error: No such module "convert". by Script error: No such module "convert"., with internal divisions.[5]
Alfred of Spain (who was actually from Épaignes in Normandy) is the Norman Lord of Stowey as recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086; the building of the castle is normally attributed to him or to his daughter Isabel. The earliest written reference to the castle is in a forged charter of 1154.[6]
The top of the motte was excavated by amateurs in the 19th century but no record was made of any finds. The mounds around the top of the motte are assumed to be spoil heaps from these excavations to clear the foundations of the keep, although it has also been suggested that they may be the remains of towers.[7] The blue lias rubble foundations are the only visible structural remains of the castle, which stood on the conical motte surrounded by a ditch approximately Script error: No such module "convert". in circumference.[8]
The castle was destroyed in the 15th century, which may have been as a penalty for the local Lord Audley's involvement in the Second Cornish Uprising of 1497 led by Perkin Warbeck.[9] Some of the stone was used in the building of Stowey Court in the village.[10]
See also
References
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