Taunton Castle: Standing Buildings of the Inner Court

The standing buildings of the inner court at Taunton Castle comprise three ranges forming a roughly triangular courtyard, excluding the Wyndham Galleries, the Welcome Building and East and West Passages. The castle was established by the Bishops of Winchester in the late Anglo-Saxon period, with successive remodelling in medieval and post-medieval periods. Later alterations, rebuilding and repairs were carried out in the late 18th century by Sir Benjamin Hammet, and in the 19th and mid-20th centuries. The building has operated as a museum since 1899 and underwent substantial refurbishment in the early 21st century. The ruins, earthwork and buried remains of the castle, including those of both the inner and outer baileys, are a scheduled monument.

Materials and Construction

The buildings are constructed of random freestone rubble, Hamstone, chert and some brick under plain-tiled pitched and hipped roofs, with metal sheeting and glazing to the roofs of the early 21st-century additions. The dressings are mostly Hamstone and there are tall stone and brick stacks to Castle House. The fenestration is of various styles and dates, including mullion and transom windows and timber sashes with glazing bars.

The North Range (Great Hall)

The Great Hall appears to have originally been a 12th- or 13th-century first-floor hall with an undercroft which was altered to a ground-floor hall in the mid-13th century. It was altered and extended eastwards in the 16th or 17th century, with further alterations including re-roofing in the 19th century relating to its use as courts, and again in the mid-20th century.

The external north wall incorporates a length of 12th-century curtain wall and reduces in thickness at the eaves level of the medieval hall. It has a chamfered plinth to all but the west end, four shallow buttresses in Hamstone, and a further buttress towards the eastern end of different materials. The westernmost buttress overlies a blocked window, and to its left is the stone jamb of a medieval window. Set high in the wall are heavily-repaired, mullion and transom Hamstone windows of four and five lights under catslide dormers which appear to be 16th or 17th century, though two are 20th-century replacements. The eastern end of the range was rebuilt in the 16th or 17th century, but the north-east corner appears to be original and retains a Hamstone clasping buttress. To the far left, in the set-back upper part of the wall, is an infilled oval window within a surround of brick headers. It is one of six that were added to this elevation in the 18th century; the others are no longer visible externally or not extant. The east elevation has a pair of timber mullion and transom windows of 16th- or 17th-century date which appear to have been re-sited here.

The south elevation, facing onto the courtyard, has five oval windows set high in the wall, dating from around 1700 and repaired in the 20th century. A sixth window has been replaced by a doorway (infilled). Most of the hall elevation is obscured by the 1930s former museum entrance block and the flanking single-storey lean-to additions which were substantially rebuilt in the early 21st century; however, a number of former door and window openings of various dates are visible from within these buildings.

The interior of the Great Hall is a single open space with an early 21st-century steel-framed gallery at first-floor level. The roof dates principally to 1816, though the central truss may be mid-19th century, and consists of king post trusses with angled struts, strengthened by modern timbers.

The West Range

The west range is a rectangular, two-storey block, formerly comprising the Bishop's apartment or Camera and an undercroft, which structurally forms part of the Great Hall. It has 12th-century origins and was extended to the south (the Gray Room) probably in the mid-13th century, although on a slightly different alignment on its west side. It was raised in height in the 18th century and underwent substantial refurbishment in the late 18th century.

The shorter north elevation has a plinth which is a continuation of the plinth on the Great Hall, clasping corner buttresses, an inserted late 18th-century ground-floor window with wooden Y-tracery set within a round-arched brick surround and a crenellated parapet. At first-floor level are two lancets; one has been restored and the other rebuilt in the late 19th century. At the north-east corner is a square stair turret which breaks forwards slightly and has slit windows; its upper section was rebuilt in the mid-20th century.

The plinth continues along the west elevation which has been re-faced in chert and has two short buttresses; the southern one aligning with quoin stones and a vertical joint in the masonry which marks the earlier extent of the range. There is a tall round-headed opening which has a panelled door surmounted by a window with vertical glazing bars, all set within a brick surround, and accessed via stone steps with metal handrails. To the right is a pointed-arched sash window, previously a doorway, also approached from a similar flight of steps. The first floor has four sash windows in Hamstone surrounds.

The courtyard (north-east) elevation has a high parapet and 12th-century buttresses. The 19th-century entrance, which occupies the position of an earlier doorway, has paired wooden doors and strap hinges set within a recessed semi-circular surround with engaged columns and cushion capitals. The first floor was lit originally by four narrow windows with deep reveals; of which one window and the jamb of another are visible externally. A larger 18th-century window of four lights which contains fragments of earlier windows has been inserted in the position of one of the original windows. There is a drip mould and a relieving arch above. The original entrance located in the south-east wall is visible internally, but is not centrally placed relative to the structure and this may indicate the presence of an external stair to the first-floor room.

The interior undercroft has an inserted barrel-vaulted ceiling and a mid-20th-century concrete floor. Two fireplaces have previously been uncovered in the west wall; one is probably 17th century and has Hamstone jambs with chamfer and roll stops, and the other is a late 18th- or early 19th-century insertion. A segmental-arched doorway in the south wall leads into the mid-13th-century extension (the Gray Room) to the south. The room over the undercroft (the Somerset Room) has splayed stone reveals for three of the four original windows in its east wall; the larger fourth reveal is that of an inserted 18th-century window. The reveals of the two tall lancets in the north wall are also visible. The range has a flat, sheet-metal roof of early 21st-century date.

The South Range (Chapel Block)

The south range to the west of the gatehouse is rectangular on plan and built on the line of the south curtain wall. It dates largely to around 1500, as evinced by the roof timbers, although it has earlier origins. It originally contained a first-floor chapel which was converted in the late 18th century to a dining room for the judges (the Adam Library). To the south-west corner is a probable late 13th-century circular tower which butts against the wall of the Gray Room to the north-east. Between the south range and the gatehouse is a narrow block of one bay which is for the most part later, probably post-medieval, infill. The south range was substantially remodelled in the late 18th century, at which time the tower was largely rebuilt.

The outer (south) wall is faced in chert and has a battered plinth. The tower has late 18th-century, pointed-arched sash windows to both floors, and the conical roof was re-slated in the late 20th century. To the right (east) of the tower, the ground floor has a mullion window of two lights, three mullion windows with Caernarfon surrounds which were inserted in 1874 and 1910, and the remains of an earlier square-headed, two-light window (infilled). To the upper floor are a late 18th-century quatrefoil window and three late 18th-century sashes. To the far right, at ground- and first-floor level are further blocked openings.

The ground floor of the courtyard (north) elevation has two mullion windows of three lights which appear to be 16th century and were reset here in the late 18th century. To the right is a blocked single window, an altered medieval doorway with modern timber doors and a relieving arch above, and a 13th-century lancet which may have been lowered. Four relieving arches are visible at first-floor level, and to the far right is a re-used Perpendicular window of four lights with a drip mould to the right-hand end. The narrow infill bay which is adjacent to the gatehouse has a pointed-arched doorway with chamfered jambs, traces of a window to the right of this, and a mullion window with leaded lights set in a square-headed surround of Hamstone to the upper floors.

The interior of the south range is accessed from the altered medieval doorway at the east end of the range and also from the door in the narrow infill bay to the west. The main ground-floor room (the Coin Room) has a brick-built east wall which contains an infilled fireplace and a round-headed niche. At the west end of the range is a 18th-century open-string staircase which has slender, turned newels, a ramped handrail and metal balusters.

The principal first-floor room (the Adam Library) is accessed from doorways at either end of the room. The door in the east wall dates probably to the 15th century and has a stone surround with roll mouldings and a segmental pointed head. The room itself has a late 18th-century decorative scheme with an Adam-style fireplace at the east end, blind arcading of three arches carried on four wooden, fluted pillars to the west wall, and a barrel-vaulted ceiling with plasterwork panels and radial fluting to the tympanum at either end. The wagon roof dates to around 1500; it has been strengthened with additional timbers and a small section is exposed at the west end of the range.

The first floor of the tower has a decorative plasterwork scheme, including a dentilled cornice, moulded dado with fluting, raised architrave and shutters to the windows and a fireplace with a decorative surround that has a frieze with foliate festoons and a central classical figure and a Greek key moulding and fluting to the mantel.

The ground floor of the infill bay to the east has a short corridor containing an early 20th-century cast-iron spiral staircase. A door in the corridor's south wall leads into a brick-vaulted former strongroom that was inserted in 1910. The spiral staircase leads to the first floor, but not to the second floor, although a late 19th-century plan shows a circular stair in the thickness of the south wall. It is now accessed from the gatehouse. The roof to the infill bay was previously hipped, but was replaced with a gabled roof prior to 1933.

The Gatehouse

The south elevation of the gatehouse has a 13th- or 14th-century plain chamfered, segmental-pointed archway with a portcullis slot. The upper part was rebuilt in 1495-1496 by Bishop Langton whose arms are displayed in a plaque above the arch. The first floor has an inserted, probably late 18th-century, square-headed, two-light window with moulded jambs and a drip mould. Inset into the parapet is a further, repaired plaque containing a much-eroded relief carving of the arms of Henry VII. The passage has a blocked doorway in its east wall and a flat, plaster ceiling.

The courtyard (north) elevation appears to be late 15th century and of one build. There is a plaque over the archway and a blocked opening above this. The stair turret was rebuilt in blue lias in the 1880s. It has a chamfered plinth and lancet windows to each floor, rising to a string course and crenellated parapet. To the west wall of the turret is a doorway above which is a stone plaque that records the rebuilding.

The room above the gateway is entered from the stair turret and also from the south range. It retains a boarded-over fireplace with moulded timber surround and mantel and a low, panelled wooden partition screen with a door at one end which divides the room.

Castle House

Castle House is to the east of the gatehouse and lies along the inner face of the south curtain wall. It is a two-storey, four-and-a-half-bay range that was built as lodgings in the late 15th century, upgraded and converted to a single dwelling in the mid-16th century, and remodelled around 1700. At the south end of the building is a cross wing that is considered to date from the second half of the 16th century. It seems likely that it was originally two storeys, possibly a kitchen range with accommodation above, which was raised to three storeys around 1700. A two-storey extension (East Block) under a hipped roof was added in the 18th century. Castle House underwent sympathetic repairs and renovation in the early 21st century.

The entrance front of the former lodgings faces onto the courtyard and was originally symmetrically fenestrated. It has a two-stage plinth to all except the left-hand bay and the scars of two buttresses. A third buttress is buried in the return wall of the cross wing. The entrance is to the right of centre and has a 18th-century door frame and 19th-century paired doors. The early mid-18th-century shell canopy on carved brackets above the entrance does not align with the doorway. There is also evidence that the doorway has been widened. To the left of the entrance is an inserted window of five lights under a concrete lintel and to the right are two 20th-century two-light windows and a late 19th-century mullion window of two lights. The stone jamb of an earlier window is visible to the right of the entrance.

To the first floor, above and to either side of the door are three square-headed, Hamstone windows with arched lights and spandrel carving, which are probably late 15th century. The two other first-floor windows are post-1874 copies. The rear (south) elevation of the lodgings has two ground-floor timber mullion and transom windows of around 1700 with ogee moulding to the inner faces and a single timber window. To the far left, there is a 1930s two-light window in a Doutling stone frame. The parapet is crenellated.

The cross wing breaks forwards of the former lodgings. It has windows of various styles and dates, including timber-framed mullion and transom windows of around 1700, as well as late 19th- and early 20th-century copies and early 19th-century sash windows. Most of the elevations of both the former lodgings range and the cross wing retain evidence of earlier openings that have been infilled or partially overlaid with inserted windows.

The interior of the former lodgings has a good survival of fixtures and fittings which pre-date the refurbishment of around 1700, and its principal first-floor room (formerly two rooms) retains the best-surviving evidence of the building's early history. It has a mid- to late 16th-century fireplace with moulded surround, and to the left of this, set low in the wall, is a pointed-arched recess which has re-used 12th-century beakhead decoration to its north (inner) face. A fragment of a 16th-century wall painting is exposed in the west wall. A 15th-century doorway within this wall has a 20th-century door. Elsewhere, within the lodgings are 15th- and 16th-century deeply-chamfered axial ceiling beams, some with stepped stops, though some have been re-used. A small closet on the ground floor contains oak small field panelling, some re-used, of early- to mid-17th-century date.

The lower two floors of the cross wing also retain some early fittings such as 16th-century chamfered ceiling beams and a large fireplace with timber lintel. Throughout the entire building there are fixtures and fittings dating from the refurbishment of about 1700. These include the main staircase located in the cross wing which has an open string, plain newels and a flat-moulded handrail; the balusters are turned except for the upper part which has stick balusters. In addition, there are bolection-moulded fireplace surrounds, one with a later 18th-century hob grate; timber bolection-moulded wall panelling; round-headed doorcases with panelled jambs, moulded imposts and keystones; moulded plaster cornices and two-panelled doors with H-hinges. There is also some 18th-century joinery such as fielded panelled doors and architrave.

The roof timbers of the lodgings have been dated by dendrochronology to 1480 to 1482. They consist of three arch-braced trusses, with cranked collars to the outer trusses, a flat-topped collar to the central one which was formerly a closed truss and trenched purlins. The cross wing has late 17th- or early 18th-century collared trusses and a single row of purlins.

The Former Museum Entrance Block

The former museum entrance block in front of the Great Hall was constructed in 1931-1932 on the site of the early 19th-century Jury Room which had an open-colonnaded ground floor, but was found to have significant structural problems. The replacement building was designed by Stone and Francis and is a symmetrical composition in the neo-Georgian style, with a central entrance under a Hamstone triangular pediment, two timber mullion and transom casements both sides of this, and five matching first-floor windows. There is currently (2018) a café on the ground floor along with a rotative beam engine (museum exhibit), and the upper floor contains office accommodation.

Exclusions

Pursuant to section 1(5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, it is declared that the late 20th-century portrait bust of Baron Harding of Petherton, the mid-20th-century Wyndham Galleries and the early 21st-century Welcome Building and East and West Passages are not of special architectural or historic interest.