Devizes Castle

-1080

Bishop Osmund of Salisbury sets up a Norman motte and bailey castle at Devizes. The original structure gained the Latin name “Castrum ad divisas,” meaning a castle at boundaries, as it was built at the junction of three parishes.

The fort rested on a mound at the western edge of the Marlborough Downs. The Castle was a timber structure, including a bailey encircling a wooden tower, a defensive ditch, and a timber palisade. Moreover, a drawbridge provided the sole access to the inner part of the bailey.

-1113 to 1120

The original timber castle burnt down. Roger le Poer, the then Bishop of Salisbury, replaced it with a stone fort. According to contemporary records, it was one of the most magnificent fortresses in Europe at the time.

-1130s

Bishop Roger lived at Devizes Castle under Henry I until Stephen, the King of England, reclaimed it. The King battled with Empress Matilda during the 12th-century Civil War. The Empress held the Castle for some time but gave it up when King Stephen threatened to kill Matilda’s son.

King Stephen pursued Empress Matilda’s army, leaving a garrison to guard the Castle. However, Robert Fitzhugh, a Flemish wanderer, tried to besiege Devizes Castle. However, his mission was cut short when Matilda’s army returned, and he was executed.

Stephen I ordered the garrison to leave the Castle. He later sent his son-in-law, Count Hervey of Brittany, to hold the Castle. However, the locals forced him out of the Castle, besieged it, and restored it to Empress Matilda. She, therefore, resided at the Castle until the end of the Civil War.

Empress Matilda’s son, Henry, used Devizes Castle as his military base for West England.

-1206

King Stephen held his second wife, Isabella as a prisoner at Devizes Castle. He also used the Castle as a treasure safe for royal regalia and the crown jewels. Other prisoners between 1106 and 1232 included Robert Curthose (William the Conqueror’s eldest son) and Hubert de Berg (1232).

-1643

Royalist troops occupied Devizes Castle, but Parliamentary forces under Sir William Waller captured it during the Civil War. The royalists tracked the Parliamentary forces three days later during the Battle of Roundway Down.

Devizes Castle and town remained under the royalists, led by Sir Charles Lloyd, the King’s Chief Engineer. The troops guarded the town against repeated attacks by the Parliamentarians.

-1645

A large Parliamentarian army led by Oliver Cromwell invaded the town and besieged the Castle.

-1648

Parliament ordered the slighting of Devizes Castle. The Castle’s materials were then used to construct other local buildings. However, using its masonry had happened again even before the Civil War. For instance, Sir Edward Bayntun took over 1500 stones from the Castle to enlarge his Bromham House during the 15th century.

-1838

JN Tylee acquired Devizes Castle’s lands. He then sold the property to a Devizes tradesman, Victoria Leach.

The Leach family built a Gothic Revival fantasy Castle on the site where the initial Devizes Castle lay. Henry Goodridge of Bath was the designer behind the new castle. The castellated residence included a Round Tower where the original keep stood.

Leach destroyed the southern windmill but retained the northern windmill. The windmill became part of the new structure, and next to the Round Tower, he also constructed a coach house and a stable block.

-1842

Leach died and was buried in the churchyard of the Congregational Church on Northgate Street. Robert Valentine Leach (his son) tried selling the Castle in 1843, but his plan was futile. He let out some of the Castle’s sections while the rest became public pleasure grounds.

Robert Leach left the Castle and acquired the Briton Ferry House in South Wales. He later opened a lunatic asylum in the residence.

-1858

Excavations on the site revealed the foundations of the former hall piers.

-1860

Leach returned to Devizes after his business flourished. He upgraded the Castle using funds gained from the asylum and incorporating Norman designs into the grounds. He also replaced the southern windmill with a larger circular one.

-1888

Upon Robert Leach’s death, Sir Charles Rich bought Devizes Castle and changed the building. These included replacing the Norman windows with larger Tudor-designed ones. Rich also set up new stables and a billiard room.

He died in 1913, leaving the Castle under Lady Rich. When she also died in 1918, E.C. Reed purchased the property.

Devizes Castle later had many owners, including those who bought the north and south towers (lots) separately.

-1953

English Heritage recognized the original Devizes Castle as a scheduled monument after archaeological excavations on the site.

-1972

Devizes Castle was listed as a Grade I building, including its garden (surrounding the west side mound) and the glasshouse. The modern Castle, its towers, turrets, and castellation have a mixed neo-Norman, Gothic, and C16 interior.