Devizes Castle

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Entrance to what is now Devizes Castle

Devizes Castle was a medieval fortification in the town of Devizes in the English county of Wiltshire . There is now a castle from Victorian times . English Heritage has listed it as a Grade I Historic Building.

Medieval building

The first moth on this site was built in 1080 by Osmund von Sées , the Bishop of Salisbury . This castle burned down in 1113 and was rebuilt in stone by Roger of Salisbury until 1120. He occupied it under King Heinrich I and later under King Stephen . Roger supported Stephan and so the castle was taken from one side and the other. It then remained in the possession of the crown and was under the kings Heinrich II. And Heinrich III. used as a prison. Later it became the property of Catherine of Aragon , the first wife of Henry VIII .

Civil war

In 1643, during the English Civil War , Devizes Castle was occupied by royalist troops and besieged by the Roundheads under Sir William Waller . However, three days later, Waller's troops were destroyed by the royalists in the Battle of Roundway Down . The castle and town remained in royalist hands under the military leadership of Sir Charles Lloyd, who defended the town against repeated violent attacks and bombardments by the Roundheads. In September 1645 Oliver Cromwell captured the town with strong forces and heavy artillery and occupied the castle, which surrendered after a bombardment. In May 1648 the castle was razed on instructions from parliament . The only remains of the medieval castle that have remained to this day are the original earth wall, the outer edge of the moat and traces of the foundations of the knight's hall.

Reconstruction in Victorian times

Floor plan of the castle from 1883, from the sale of the property

Today's "castle" with battlements from Victorian times in the Norman and Neo-Gothic style was built by the Leach family in the 19th century. Construction began in 1842 based on a roughly asymmetrical blueprint by Henry Goodrich , a Bath architect . It was expanded northward in the 1860s and subsequent decades. The north tower contains the remains of a brick windmill from the 17th century.

The building has now been divided into private apartments and is not open to the public. The main part of the castle with the seven bedrooms, four bathrooms and six reception rooms was sold for £ 2m in 2010.

Individual evidence

  1. Devizes Castle . English Heritage  ( Page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved March 5, 2015.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / list.english-heritage.org.uk  
  2. Detailed Result: Devizes Castle . In: Pastscape . English Heritage. Retrieved March 5, 2015.

literature

  • Plantagenet Somerset Fry: The David & Charles Book of Castles , David & Charles, 1980. ISBN 0-7153-7976-3

Web links

Coordinates: 51 ° 21 '2.8 "  N , 1 ° 59' 54.6"  W.