CASTLE.
William Brewer (d. 1226) was
licensed in 1200 to build a castle at Bridgwater
which descended with the manor, or one third
of the manor, until 1627. (fn. 64) While the Crown had
custody 1233-48 it appointed constables and
used parts of the castle as a prison and a store. (fn. 65)
The Crown again occupied the castle 1322-6 in
case Roger Mortimer should escape from the
Tower and use it as a base for operations in
Wales. (fn. 66) When he sold his interest in the manor
in 1627 Sir George Whitmore retained the
castle, which had been separately leased in 1591
to William Goble, collector and bailiff, (fn. 67) but he
sold the castle in 1630 to Henry, son of William
Harvey of Bridgwater, a lawyer. (fn. 68) Henry's son
Henry died in 1671, and the castle passed first
to his uncle Francis, owner in 1673 and 1690,
and by 1699 to his nephew John Harvey (fn. 69) (fl.
1715). In 1721 John's son Francis conveyed the
castle and other properties on the site and
elsewhere in the town to James Brydges, duke
of Chandos. (fn. 70) The duke sold the estate to Thomas Watts in 1734, and in 1738 Watts and his
wife Mary conveyed it to John Anderdon, M.D.
In 1777 John's son Edward was owner of two
houses and extensive gardens, formerly the
castle bailey, besides the remains of a substantial
mansion. (fn. 71) Robert Harvey, M.D., is said to have
been the owner in 1791. (fn. 72)
The castle was apparently rectangular in plan
and lay in the north-east corner of the town and
on the west bank of the river. Only the early
13th-century Water Gate and a stretch of curtain
wall north of it survive above ground. In 1242
the constable was ordered to repair the mound
upon which the castle keep stood, to mend the
turrets, and to make other necessary repairs. (fn. 73)
In 1246 the towers were to be roofed and the
surrounding palisade renewed. (fn. 74) In 1360 the
building was said to be in ruins, (fn. 75) although
repairs had been made to the chapel and a barn
within the walls in 1347-8. (fn. 76) Part of the surrounding ditch had by then been filled and built
over; other sections were used for grazing and
growing timber, while the southern stretch towards the town still held water, and reeds
growing there were cut to thatch some of the
castle buildings. (fn. 77) In the 1380s, when the castle
formed part of the network of the Mortimer
estates in the West and Wales, small repairs were
regularly made both to the defences and to
buildings within the walls. A substantial oak
palisade was rebuilt on the north side in 1394-5;
the eastern wall, strengthened with at least two
towers, one at a corner, was frequently repaired.
The main entrance was a 'great gate' or 'outer
gate towards the town', evidently detached beyond the ditch, which gave access across the
outer drawbridge to the outer bailey; an 'inner
bridge facing the tower within the ditch' led to
a second drawbridge and the inner bailey. (fn. 78) Two
other towers stood at the time. (fn. 79)
About 1400 the buildings within the inner
bailey included chambers for estate officials, a
kitchen, a cellar, a horse mill, and a dungeon. A
barn mentioned in 1347 seems to have been
replaced as a hay store in the 1390s by the castle
hall, known as Mortimers Hall. Detached buildings included stables, a dovecot, and a chapel. (fn. 80)
A new chamber was mentioned in 1408, and
three men were ordered by the manor court to
return two guns to the castle; the bailey was
being used to graze cattle (fn. 81) and for archery
practice. (fn. 82) Private dwellings had been established within the walls by the 1450s. (fn. 83) Successive
owners from the earlier 15th century appointed
their retainers to offices such as doorkeepers and
constables. In the 1530s and 1540s one man was
described as constable and bailiff of the ditches
of the castle, and the keepership was a Crown
appointment until c. 1607. (fn. 84) Before 1502 buildings had been erected on each side of the main
gate of the castle, which by then gave access from
the high cross to the town's north gate. (fn. 85)
Leland described the castle in the 1540s as 'all
going to mere ruin', (fn. 86) and in 1548 'the old frame
of the castle' was reported as having fallen down
and been removed to the house of the customer
of the port. (fn. 87) In 1565 royal commissioners suggested that the buildings might be demolished
to provide a site and materials for a customs
house and a new quay. (fn. 88) A house was being built
within the castle in 1566-7 at the expense of the
town, (fn. 89) but no further work has been traced until
Henry Harvey's house 'by the bridge', built c.
1637 and damaged or destroyed in the siege in
1645. (fn. 90) Harvey or his predecessor had pulled
down some of the walls shortly before 1635. (fn. 91) In
1650 the castle was thought to be of possible
military value. (fn. 92) Probably in the later 17th century a castellated mansion was built on the
summit of the castle mound, its western front in
the form of a twin-towered gatehouse. Eight
rooms on the first floor were occupied in the
1720s by the estate steward and later by a
schoolmistress. (fn. 93) Between the house and the
eastern wall of the castle, where there had been
a grove of elm trees, (fn. 94) the present Castle and
Chandos steets were laid out in the early 1720s
and the eastern wall was demolished in 1726 to
provide access to the quay. (fn. 95) The remainder of
the site was occupied by two houses and extensive gardens. (fn. 96) About 1804 the western area was
an open playground surrounded by a wooden
palisade. The ruins of the castellated mansion
still stood surrounded by deeply pitted ground. (fn. 97)
The site was subsequently laid out as King
Square. (fn. 98)
In 1219 the chapel within the castle was among
the churches appropriated to the newly founded
St. John's hospital in Bridgwater. (fn. 99) It was dedicated to St. Mark, and in 1535 a priest celebrated
there three times a week for the souls of the
founder and of King John. (fn. 1) The chapel was of
stone with a stone-tiled roof and a bell tower. (fn. 2)