Mere Castle Hill

In the civil parish of Mere.
In the historic county of Wiltshire (Modern Authority of Wiltshire, 1974 county of Wiltshire).

Earthwork remains of an enclosure castle. The licence to build was granted to Richard, Earl of Cornwall in 1253. The castle consisted of six towers, a hall, inner and outer gates, a deep well and a chapel and was repaired in 1300. It was finally demolished 1780-90. Partial excavations in 1887 revealed a rectangular building with four turrets. No foundations are now visible on the site.

This site has been described as a;
Masonry Castle.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Earthworks remains.

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1253 July 5.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is ST80953254

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

PastScape number; 207257

• Web site links
  • http://www.merecastle.freewire.co.uk/
• Books
  • Salter, Mike, 2002, Index and Amendments to Mike Salter's English Castles Books (Malvern) p11
    Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Wessex (Malvern) p96
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p278 [slight]
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p499-500
    Johnson and others, 1958, The Story of Mere (Gillingham) p31-2 and plate 3
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol1 p230
    Hoare, Richard Colt, 1822, The History of Modern Wiltshire: Mere p210, 220-1, 226
• Journal Articles
  • Stevens, F., 1940-2, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol49 p157-9
    1937-8, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol48 p432
    1935-7, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol47 p540-1
    Baker, T.H., 1896, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol29 p229 [history only]
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Calendar of Patent Rolls (1247-58) p208
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p504