Somerton Castle, Somerset

In the civil parish of Somerton.
In the historic county of Somerset (Modern Authority of Somerset, 1974 county of Somerset).

Listed by Harvey but King writes "Sometimes said to have had a castle but this is a mistake for the castle at Somerton Lincolnshire." However SMR record reads 'Somerton Castle has now disappeared. Late in C16 a portion of the surrounding walls was standing together with a round bastion tower. The materials were used to construct a goal on its site somewhere in close proximity to the present White Hart Inn. Externally there are no remains of the castle walls in either the White Hart Inn or the adjoining buildings. "There is a tradition that its [the castles] dungeons once imprisoned French Royalty and remain under the Market Square" Dunning writes was built as the county goal from 1280 -1371 (replacing Ilchester) and was regularly refered to as Somerton Castle in assizes records.

This site has been described as a;
Masonry Castle.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Possible.
Nothing visible remains.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is ST49072844

Modern Map from Good for landscape form and features	Modern Map from Good for general location
Air Photo from	1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

County Sites and Monuments Record number; 15706

• Web site links
  • http://webapp1.somerset.gov.uk/her/details.asp?prn=15706
• Books
  • Dunning, Robert, 1995, Somerset Castles (Somerset Books) p79
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p446 [reject]
    Dunning, R.W. (ed), 1974, VCH Somerset Vol3 p132, 138-9
    Hayter T H O., 1956?, The Parish Church of St. Michael and All Angels, Somerton
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Barnett, CRB. 1894, Somersetshire Highways, Byways and Waterways. p20
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/dorseteng.html#somerset8]