Description

SO 3288 and SO 3289
11/1, 12/1

BISHOP'S CASTLE C.P.
Remains of Castle on Castle Site

28.7.50

GV
II
Defensive walls. Castle founded circa 1100 for the Bishops of Hereford;
now no more than sundry walls standing between 20 and 3 feet high in
considerable earthworks. Coursed limestone rubble. Original plan:
petrified motte and bailey. Some of the masonry is thought to be C14,
and one C12 buttress is thought to be identifiable at NGR SO 32382
89048. Sections of the wall survive behind Nos. 10-20 (even), Market
Square (Nos. 10 and 20 not listed) and Nos. 2-8 (even), Welsh Street,
and behind Nos. 1-5 (odd), Bull Street (Nos. 3 and 5 not listed) and
bound the Public Park on the east side. The motte is encircled partly
by a rebuilt retaining wall incorporating stretches of mediaeval masonry.
Confusingly the best surviving section to the north-east is incorporated
in a wall which continues both to the north-west and south-east (neither
extension included). Other walls included in this item may well be of
medieval date, particularly the stretch between the south-east corner
of the motte and the middle of the bailey. The top of the motte has been
levelled to form a bowling green with a summerhouse (q.v.). In the
bailey various buildings, mostly of post-1700 date, demonstrate how,
at the end of the C17, the castle was allowed to decay.

Listing NGR: SO3230389074

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26306237

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey