Nunney Castle

Only a few weeks ago I had never heard of Nunney Castle, but then it turned out to be near where we were staying in Somerset, so we went to have a look. It is a picturesque scene in a beautiful village, only marred by the litter of roadside cars, which is a shame. We got there in a car so I can't really talk. It does seem a shame though that parking isn't provided for, off the high street, some scenic villages do manage to successfully do that. Broadway in the Cotswolds being a good example.

Nunney Castle is a medieval castle, built in the late 14th century by Sir John Delamare on the profits of his involvement in the Hundred Years' War, the moated castle's architectural style, possibly influenced by the design of French castles, has provoked considerable academic debate. Remodelled during the late 16th century, Nunney Castle was damaged during the English Civil War and is now ruined.

Between 1337 and 1453, which makes it the 116 Years War to be exact, Europe was in turmoil as the throne of France was up for grabs. It wasn't a single long war but a series of disputes with days off for things like the Black Death. There were even some truces in the middle so people could jet off on holiday and stuff. Catch up on the ironing, that sort of thing. Five generations of Kings from two dynasties were the main operators, while their underlings, including the Lords and liegemen like Sir John took the unenviable decisions about whose side they better be on, to increase their average life expectancy. The fighting wasn't confined to France with related arguments in Spain and Belgium too. Nobody wanted to be left out.

So how would Sir John have become rich fighting in France. War at this time was as much a money making business as it was about the power to rule a territory. The wars were actually self-funding, some might say that they still are in some senses. Knights were paid by the King to fight, but they also had access to any wealth they could find during the looting and sacking of towns and the countryside. In addition, if they could capture an important wealthy enemy it was common practice to hold these prisoners for ransom and the ransom was of Royal proportions in many cases. There was no Geneva Convention. Even common soldiers were permitted to keep wealth they could gather, and it was generally considered in chivalric culture to be a waste to kill wealthy enemies.

It isn't as ruined as some ruins I've seen though. The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner has described Nunney as "aesthetically the most impressive castle in Somerset.

Who am I to argue, especially when there is also a beautiful old pub right opposite it, never argue without a nice cold cider.

"Not a lot of people know this" as Michael Caine might have said, but at one time you needed a license to crenellate. Well they didn't have a T.V. license back then. Edward III granted Delamare his license to crenellate. Surprisingly these licenses were generally free, because they only went to men who had already proved their loyalty.

Delamare was a Knight at Edward's Court and he got his permissions to upscale his pad in 1373 from manor house to castle. Licences to crenellate were issued from the 12th to 16th centuries. I should add, in case you didn't know that crenellations were the battlements that made a castle defendable, commonly described as the indented parapets we are all familiar with, even in Disney castles. The crenels were the gaps where an archer could fire arrows from, offering him some defence. The raised part was a merlon.

The reason that the Crown licensed crenellations was primarily to limit any possible threat to Royal power from localised uprisings.

The view of military-focused historians is that licensing restricted the number of fortifications that could be used against a royal army, so the licensing system protected royal power across the country against local interests.

A side effect from having crenellations was the open display of the trust placed in you by the King. Eventually crenellations became just that, status symbols, once Royal authority was ensured and unchallenged.

In time battlements became an architectural status-symbol much sought after by the socially ambitious, and licensing became not so much a control mechanism as the gateway to a status symbol. Wikipedia

The castle never saw conflict until the English Civil War. By then the castle had passed by marriage to the Poulet branch of the family. It later passed through the hands of several unrelated owners until Richard Prater bought it in 1578.

In September 1645 a Parliamentary army under the command of Lord Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell advanced into Somerset, taking Sherborne, Cary and Shepton Mallet before turning to Nunney. Two regiments of soldiers with cannons surrounded the castle on 18 September; when a later Colonel Richard Prater refused to surrender, the cannons opened fire on the north side of the castle, breaching the castle wall. Richard continued to resist, hoisting a flag with a Catholic crucifix on it above the castle to taunt the besiegers, but two days later the garrison surrendered.

Unlike most Civil War battles, it is thought that the death toll at Nunney was relatively low, probably because it was a siege rather than a hand to hand fight. The castle was damaged although not destroyed, and it was eventually surrendered. After surrender, wealthy Royalists were usually heavily fined but rarely executed, while common soldiers were disarmed and set free. Bear in mind that many common soldiers would likely just have been local agricultural workers anyway.

After the battle the victors slighted Nunney Castle. Slighting was a process of deliberately damaging a fortress so it could never be used for military purposes again. The word which is still in usage today, now means "belittling someone or showing disdainful disrespect". Interestingly the etymology of the word is Old Norse for smooth or even. Removing the indented crenellations would have the effect of making the top of the wall smooth, so could that be the origin of its use? After all, Nunney Castle no longer has crenellations.

The castle takes the form of a main central tower keep 60 feet by 24 with four circular towers, one at each corner. The main keep has walls eight feet thick, and is spread over three floors. It is not certain how the rooms were laid out, although the three floors can still be clearly seen through the gap from the fallen north wall, which fell as recently as Christmas Day 1910 after the war damaged sections finally gave way after 250 years.

Western Daily Press - Saturday 31 December 1910

PARTIAL COLLAPSE OF

NUNNEY CASTLE.

A few days ago the historic ruin known as Nunney Castle, situate about three miles from Frome, partially collapsed. Practically the whole of that side of the castle facing the north-west fell in, causing a great gap, and completely destroying the beauty of the ancient building. Archaeologists will greatly regret the breaking up of the old castle which was probably due to the tremendously heavy rains, which have soaked through the rained walls.

The fine carving in the main doorway is destroyed and buried under a mass of huge stones. The part of the building which has collapsed has for two or three years past shown signs of weakness. It was this particular portion of the castle that came in for the worst of the bombardment which the castle underwent at the hands of Cromwell's men.

Wells Journal - Friday 01 August 1919

NUNNEY CASTLE IN DANGER.

At the annual meeting of the Somerset Archæological Society, held at Taunton, on Tuesday, Mr. H. Hobhouse informed the meeting that the Council of the society had that morning passed a resolution asking that the attention of the Inspector of National Monuments be called to the condition of Nunney Castle as owing to the growth of trees and other causes the process of disintegration was proceeding rapidly. He said the building was scheduled under the Ancient Monuments Act four years ago, and nothing had been done to preserve it. A portion of the wall had already fallen. Once the castle collapsed it could not be replaced.

The meeting endorsed the resolution.

In 1926, with the fabric of the castle under threat, the owner, Robert Baily-Neale, transferred the property to the Commissioner of Works, who began a programme of restoration work.

The castle is now run by English Heritage as a tourist attraction and is a scheduled monument.