was a place of great military consideration in the western counties.
It was the _caput_ of an extensive Honour, and the chief seat of a
line of very powerful barons. The hill upon which it stands is the
north-eastern, or seaward extremity of a considerable ridge, from which
it is cut off by a natural depression, and thus forms what is known in
West-Saxon nomenclature as a tor. The tor covers above ten acres of
ground, and is about 200 feet high, with a table top in area about a
quarter of an acre. It stands upon the western edge of a deep and broad
valley, which contains the park, and below the castle expands into a
tract of meadow about a mile in breadth, skirting the sea from Minehead
to below Carhampton. The park is traversed by a considerable stream,
the Avill, one head of which springs from Croydon Hill, and the other,
flowing past Wootton-Courtenay, rises about six miles distant under
Dunkery Beacon. The home view, one of exceeding richness, is limited
and sheltered on the south and west by the Brendon Hills and the high
ground rising towards Exmoor. To the east it includes the vales of
Cleeve and Williton, bounded by the Quantocks. Seaward on to the north
the eye ranges over Bridgwater Bay to the headland of Brean Down and
Worle, and commands the west or opposite coast from Penarth Point to
Aberavan and Swansea.
West, and at the foot of the castle hill, and under the immediate
control and protection of the old fortress, is the town of Dunster, a
small and compact cluster of old-fashioned houses, many with timber
fronts, in the midst of which is the parish church, once connected
with the priory, the foundation of one of the early Norman lords. The
eastern or monastic part of the building now forms the private chapel
of the Luttrells, and contains several of their tombs.
[Illustration: DUNSTER CASTLE.
Wyman & Sons, Gᵗ. Queen Sᵗ. London.]
The fancy cloths once known as “Dunsters” have long ceased to be
fabricated, and of the fulling mills the ruins have well-nigh perished.
The haven at which these manufactures found shipping is also silted
up, and the privileges conceded to the townspeople, being now shared
by the community at large, are no longer commemorated, and are known
only because the charters granting them have been preserved. Of the
neighbouring hills, “Gallocks” is thought to be so called because there
the high judicial powers of the lords were exercised in the view of
all men, and “Grabhurst,” the castle ridge, is said to be named from
an entrenched wood, though this use of the word “graff” is unknown
or unusual in English nomenclature, and “Hirst” or “Hurst” belongs
rather to Sussex and Kent than to Somerset. The fact is that the hill
in old deeds is spelt “Grobefast,” and is at this time colloquially
“Grabbist.” Near it is a lofty detached hill known as “Conygaer,”
crowned by a tower of the last century. At present it is thickly
planted, but no camp has been discovered there, such as the name might
indicate. The castle mill remains. It is placed on the verge of the
park, upon the stream, and concealed and protected by the castle.
The castle is composed of two parts, due to the natural disposition
of the ground; these are the tor or keep, and the lower ward. The tor
is in form oval, and its summit, naturally flat, has been further
levelled by art, as the slopes also have been trimmed, and rendered
almost impracticable for direct ascent. The summit measures about 35
yards east and west, by 70 yards north and south. The keep, which stood
here, has disappeared, and its existence, long a matter of tradition,
may now be deduced from a sewer and some foundations in the south-west
corner laid open a few years ago. The present surface was laid down as
a bowling-green in the last century, and a summer-house constructed at
the north-east corner, in which is a window in the Perpendicular style
taken from some earlier structure.
The artificial scarping of the hill sides is confined to the upper 80
or 100 feet. At this level are two platforms or shelves, one, a small
one, towards the south, the other much larger, also chiefly natural,
towards the north, and which forms the lower ward. The lower ward is
of a semilunar or semioval figure, the hollow side being formed and
occupied by a portion of the skirts of the tor. It measures about 33
yards north and south by 126 yards east and west, and covers about half
an acre of ground. The outer or convex edge, steep by nature, has been
cut into a low cliff, supported by a retaining wall, which, with its
flanking towers and superstructure of parapet, protected this ward.
At the foot of this wall, part of which supports the present house,
the slope recommences, and, though now terraced by roads and paths,
formerly descended unbroken to the base of the hill.
The keep was probably either circular or polygonal, approached as at
Lincoln by a direct flight of steps from the lower ward. Its gateway
seems to have been defended by a portcullis, as one is mentioned in the
records, which could not have been in the earlier gateway or the later
gatehouse. The buildings and inhabited part of the old castle were
in the lower ward or its north-eastern quarter, upon the _enceinte_
or curtain wall, and on the site, generally, of the present house.
The wall was strengthened and flanked by half-round towers, of which
the lower part of several remain incorporated into the later building
and connected with fragments of wall, now a part of the house, and
betrayed by their excessive thickness. One of these walls has a core
of the natural red sandstone rock, enclosed in masonry, but traceable
by an occasional exudation of dampness. The gateway of this ward
remains between two of these flanking towers. It is 9 feet broad,
with plain chamfered jambs, and a low stiff drop arch. There was no
portcullis, and probably no drawbridge, the only defence being a door
composed of bars of oak, 4 inches square and 4 inches apart, forming
a grating, planked vertically outside with inch-and-a-half oak plank.
Upon each oak bar was laid a bar of iron, and the whole fabric was
spiked together with iron fastenings, having diamond-shaped heads. The
meeting line of the two valves was guarded by an iron bar. In the right
valve, on entering, is a wicket-gate 3 feet 8 inches high by 2 feet 6
inches broad, fastened with a huge iron lock in a wooden shell. This
very curious specimen of carpenter’s and smith’s work, though of later
date than the gateway, is old, not unlike that of Chepstow Castle, and
probably of the time of Henry VIII. or Elizabeth. The gateway itself
belongs to those of Henry III. or his son. In the last century the
gates were permanently closed, and behind them was built a wall backed
with earth. The gateway has recently been restored as far as possible
to its original condition, and now gives access by steps to the lower
ward.
The mural towers flanking the gateway are parts of circles, 16 feet
6 inches external diameter, and the lower 12 feet are original. One
contains a curious vaulted basement with the usual three loops, and in
the rear a doorway which opened into the ward. The other, or eastern
flanker, had a basement chamber until recently filled with earth, and
had also three loops, of which two are still visible outside. This
tower was connected with a building in its rear, the foundations of
which are original, and now form a part of the offices. Also upon the
retaining wall, but about 20 yards beyond, and to the south-west of
the old gateway, is another similar flanking tower, of which the upper
story remains, and a part of a doorway. This tower is open in the rear.
The towers, curtain, and entrance gateway are, in substance, all of one
date, and what ashlar remains is of good quality and well jointed. The
superstructure has been renewed recently.
The approach to the castle was steep, as it still is, from the
town up to the old gateway, to enter which the road made a sharp
turn. Just below the gateway, upon this approach, has been built a
gatehouse, which projects from and is connected with the curtain,
being incorporated into the tower, flanking the old curtain on the
west side. This structure, the great gatehouse, still remains perfect,
and, though evidently intended more for ornament than defence, makes
a most appropriate approach to the castle, and gives to the whole
structure much of a mediæval and something of a military character.
This building is rectangular, 63 feet broad by 23 feet deep, and
about 45 feet high, sixty-two steps leading to its battlements. It is
pierced by a passage 10 feet 6 inches broad, having a plain pointed
waggon vault, and at each end a not very highly pointed arch, with
good moulded jambs continued round the head. There are no lodge doors
opening into the archway, and neither portcullis nor drawbridge. The
fronts are plain, save that the exterior has two flanking buttresses,
and over the entrance is a rectangular panel containing nine coats of
arms in three rows—one, four, and four. The interior front is flanked
by two half-hexagonal turrets, of which that at the outer end contains
a well-stair, entered from the outside by a small four-centred doorway,
and communicating with each floor, and with the battlements. The
corresponding turret is built upon one of the old mural towers which
flanked the gateway of the lower ward. It contains a small chamber,
probably a garderobe, on each floor. Against the outer end of the
building are two buttresses, a large and small one, probably added
to support the wall which then stood upon a steep slope and showed
signs of settlement. The gatehouse is of three stages. The basement
has a chamber on each side of the main passage, entered, one by the
well-stair, the other by an exterior door. That next the well-stair is
14 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 8 inches, and has a window to the front.
That on the other side of the archway is 21 feet 6 inches by 16 feet 3
inches, and is entered from the outside by a small doorway, probably an
insertion. Opening from this chamber are two closets, and a well-stair
ascends to the two floors above.
The first floor contains two rooms, 22 feet 10 inches by 16 feet 6
inches, and 21 feet 6 inches by 16 feet 6 inches, and 13 feet high. In
its inner end are two closets.
The second, upper, or principal floor, was formerly of two rooms, but
has recently been converted into a handsome hall, 47 feet by 16 feet
6 inches, with an open roof. It has five windows and a fireplace, and
is entered on the level from the lower ward by a doorway, which seems
an insertion of the date of Henry VIII., and which has the head of the
well-stair on one side, and beyond, on each side, a closet. The windows
of the gatehouse are mostly of two lights, divided by a transom into
four, with the upper lights cinquefoiled and in the head quatrefoiled.
The summit is embattled, and at the four angles are turrets, of which
the two to the outer or front face are apparent only.
The shields on the exterior panel are, in the upper line, 1. Luttrell
with crest and supporters. Below, in the next line, 2. Luttrell
impaling Courtenay; 3. Luttrell impaling Beaumont of Sherwell; 4.
Luttrell impaling Audley; 5. Luttrell impaling Courtenay of Powderham.
In the lower row, 6. Luttrell impaling Hill; 7. Luttrell impaling
blank; 8 and 9 blank. The Luttrell supporters were two swans chained
and collared, derived from Bohun through Courtenay. The date of this
gatehouse is uncertain. It has been thought to be the “novum ædificium
castri de Dunster,” with the construction of which the accounts show
Henry Stone to have been charged in the 9th of Henry V., but the lower
part is of the style prevalent under Richard II. The door from the
lower ward into the lobby is scarcely earlier than Henry VII. or VIII.
It is probable that the gatehouse was for some time used in combination
with the gateway by its side, until the latter was closed. The approach
and entrance, however inconvenient, were strong, and almost precluded
any regular attacks by battering-machines, or even by escalade.
The history of Dunster commences with Domesday, in which it is recorded
that William de Mohun holds Torre, and there is his castle. Aluric held
it in the time of King Edward. “Ipse [Willielmus de Moion] tenet Torre.
Ibi est castellum ejus. Aluric tenuit T.R.E.” These words are very
appropriately inserted over the great chimney-piece in the hall. The
Exeter Domesday also confirms the holding both of Mohun and Aluric. Who
Aluric was is unknown. That he was a considerable Englishman none can
doubt, but the name was common, occurring sixty-four times in Domesday,
as does Alric, probably the same name, twenty-six times.
Mohun no doubt found the tor strongly fortified, after the English
manner, for not only was it a frontier fortress against the western
Celts, but it must have been exposed to the piratical invasion of the
Northmen, who gave name to the opposite islands of the Holms, and the
not very distant port of Swansea. The place was, in fact, a natural
burh on a large scale, such as Æthelflæd and Eadward the Elder were
wont to throw up artificially on a smaller scale in the early part of
the tenth century. There was the conical hill with its flat top for the
_aula_ or _domus defensabilis_, and the courtyard below for the huts
and sheds of the dependents and cattle.
William de Mohun was no mere adventurer. He was a great baron of
the Cotentin, having the castle of Moion in la Manche. He fought at
Hastings with a knightly following, and received from the Conqueror
from sixty to seventy manors in Somerset, Devon, Dorset, and Wilts.
These manors were in his time, or in that of his successor, combined
into an Honour, as was the case with those attached to the chief seats
of Plympton, Totnes, and Barnstaple. Dunster became the _caput honoris_.
The Honour of Dunster was one of about eighty-six in England, though
in what they differed from baronies is not precisely understood.
The nucleus of either was almost always an estate held before the
Conquest, added to largely by the Norman who conquered it. In all
cases it extended into more than one county, and was held of the king
_in capite_ by homage, fealty, and military service. By the laws of
Henry I., every lord could summon his liegemen before the court, “et
si residens est ad remotius manerium ejusdem honoris unde tenet, ibit
ad placitum, si dominus suus summoneat eum.” The Honour is not a
jurisdiction mentioned in Domesday, unless it be in a passage relating
to Cornwall where it is recorded, “Hæ terræ pertinent ad honores
chei;” chei being a place. The term is said to have been first used
by the Conqueror in his charter to the Abbot of Ramsey. Most of the
Honours seem to have fallen into disuse by the alienation of the manors
composing them, as was the case with Dunster, although the records show
that for many centuries the rights were maintained by the lord of the
castle in full rigour.
To what extent the Mohuns were content with the earlier defences of
the castle is unknown, but it is remarkable that no mouldings or
fragments of Norman ornament have been dug up in or about the building,
although there is original Norman work in the parish church. From the
configuration of the ground the lines of the old fortress must have
been where they still are, so that there would be no reason for pulling
down the earlier works to enlarge the area; and yet it is difficult to
suppose that works as durable as was the case with those of the Norman
period could have fallen to decay by the reigns of Henry III. or Edward
I., the date of the oldest extant parts. However this may be, it is
certain that the castle of the Mohuns was one of the most important of
the western fortresses; and in the lawless days of Stephen it was held
for the empress against the king, during the great revolt of 1138, its
lord being then William de Mohun, the second baron.
William, indeed, was not content with passive resistance. He is
described as the “Scourge of the West,” ravaging and plundering the
country up to the gates of Barnstaple, where he was held in check by
Henry de Tracy. He is said to have been created earl either of Dorset
or Somerset, or both, by the empress in 1140; but this creation rests
on very uncertain authority, and has never been admitted as valid. The
earldoms of that period were very irregular, and some were afterwards
set aside. This lord founded the Augustine Priory of Brewton, in
Somerset, and, according to the Black Book of the Exchequer, he held
forty-four knights’ fees. It is not improbable that to him is due
the circular or polygonal keep, which was common at that time where
a castle possessed a mound, and which is known to have stood on the
summit of the tor.
No mention of the castle occurs till the reign of John, who held the
castle and Honour during the minority of Lord Reginald, when the fines,
&c., for the Honour were levied by the king’s officers. In the Chancery
roll of 1201–2, Nicholas Puinz accounts for 15s. 2½d., half a year’s
pay allowed to the janitor of the castle, and the same to the watchman;
and these payments are repeated by Reginald de Clifton, who, in 1204,
was ordered to place Reginald de Moyon in possession of the castle of
Dunster and the heritage then in his custody. A very little before
this, the coming of age of Reginald, Hubert de Burgh was in charge, and
had accounted “de finibus militum” of the Honour; and 25th February,
1202, John called upon the knights and free tenants to contribute
through De Burgh for strengthening the castle. “Our castle,” the
king calls it, probably not merely as holding it in wardship, but as
asserting the general rights of the crown to all castles. A second
Reginald seems to have founded a mass for the weal of his ancestors,
to be said daily by a monk or a secular priest, to be provided by the
prior, in the upper or St. Stephen’s chapel, in the castle, or during
war in the chapel of St. Lawrence, within the priory. If the same
was neglected, power was reserved to distrain upon the goods of the
prior. Leland mentions St. Stephen’s chapel as connected with the keep.
There seems also to have been a second chapel, as usual, in the lower
ward. Upon the death of Lord Reginald, about 1213, the Honour again
fell into the hands of the Crown during a long minority. Henry Fitz
Count was placed in charge, and Alice the widow was allowed dower and
“maritagium.” It is curious that John does not appear to have visited
Dunster, although he was at Stoke-Courcy.
Henry III., in 1220, placed the forest of Dunster in charge of Peter
de Maulay. He retained the castle in his own hands, and there occur
several charges for the payment of Roger and William de Vilers, as
“balistarii regis,” who dwelt in the king’s castle of Dunster. A
specific order in 1222 places the Mohun lands in Carhampton in charge
of William Briwer, probably next of kin to the widow, but reserves to
the king’s hands the castle and vill of Dunster. Soon after, Watchet
market, being unlicensed and injurious to Dunster, was put down (Close
Roll I., 137, 418, 605). The above were not the only persons to whom
from time to time this valuable wardship was committed.
Of the condition of the castle at the close of this wardship, nothing
is on record; but the wealth of the family was much augmented by the
match of Reginald, King John’s ward, with a Briwer co-heiress, and
either his son Reginald, the founder, 1246, of Newenham Abbey, who
died 41st Henry III., 1256, or his grandson John, who died 7th Edward
I., 1278, the last baron by tenure, might have built the curtain and
mural towers containing the lower ward, of which the bases remain.
The keep was probably left unaltered, and indeed, from the great and
inconvenient height at which it stood, could have been but little used.
The purely defensive parts of castles, when not inhabited by the owner,
were usually but little cared for, and the allowance for a porter and a
single watchman shows that in this respect Dunster was no exception.
In 1376, John de Mohun, the eighth baron and the tenth in lineal
descent from the founder of the family, died, leaving daughters only,
and a sale of the castle and the rest of the property was effected by
his widow Joan Burghersh. The purchaser was another widow, Elizabeth,
daughter of Hugh Courtenay, Earl of Devon, and widow, first, of Sir
John de Vere, and afterwards of Sir Andrew Luttrell, of Chilton, a
cadet of the barons Luttrell of Irnham. Elizabeth was a lady of high
rank, of kin, through the Bohuns, to Edward III., and with the command
of great wealth. Her son, Sir Hugh Luttrell, became the new lord of
the castle and Honour, and probably built the great gatehouse.
The Luttrells were steady Lancastrians, and their representative, Sir
James, took knighthood on the field of Wakefield, and fell in the
second battle of St. Alban’s, when his estates were confiscated, 1st
Edward IV., though only to be restored, 1st Henry VII., in the person
of his son, Sir Hugh. Sir Hugh Luttrell stood high in the favour of
Henry VII., and seems to have lived at Dunster in great splendour. To
a second Sir Hugh, Leland attributes the great gatehouse, and he may
have completed or repaired it, and opened its south door leading upon
the lower ward. Probably he also inserted the armorial panels over the
entrance portal, the last of which, complete, bears his coat impaling
that of Margaret Hill, his wife. He also repaired the chapel of St.
Stephen. Leland describes the donjon, or keep, as having been “full
of goodly buildings,” which, however, had disappeared even before
his time. The inhabited part of the castle was then, as now, in the
north-east angle of the lower ward. Sir Andrew, Sir Hugh’s son and
successor, “built a new piece of the castle wall by the east.”
The next possessor who left his mark upon the castle was George
Luttrell, Sheriff of Somerset in 1593. He built the market-house in the
town and the older part of the present dwelling-house, which bears date
1589, incorporating with it much of the curtain wall, towers, and walls
of the older and more distinctly military building. The entrance to the
ward seems to have remained as before, through the gateway between the
flanking towers.
During the wars between Charles and the Parliament, the Luttrells
sided warmly with neither party, and were out of favour with both. Its
owners at this time were Thomas Luttrell, who died 1644, and George,
died 1655. In 1643 a Royalist garrison, under Colonel Wyndham, took
possession, and the castle was visited by Prince Charles, whose chamber
is still pointed out. In 1646 Blake laid siege to the castle for the
Parliament, and battered it from the north-west, behind the Luttrell
Arms. It was surrendered by Wyndham in April, 1646. A few iron cannon
balls, memorials of this siege, have been found.
The government, although they apologised for the military occupation
of the castle, levied a local rate for pulling it down. Probably this
referred only to the upper part of the curtain wall on either side
of the gatehouse. It is said that the gatehouse was injured, but its
present condition shows that the injury could not have been of a very
serious character.
A century later the accounts show that the Luttrells raised the surface
of the lower ward, probably about fourteen feet, evidently with earth
obtained by scraping the adjacent slope of the tor. This, which
involved the closing up of the old gateway, was probably combined with
the construction of a new approach, which passed below and outside of
the gatehouse, wound round the castle and the tor, and entered the
lower ward at the new level. Matters thus remained until the accession
of Mr. George Luttrell in 1869, when, under the judicious advice of Mr.
Salvin, a great addition was made to the Elizabethan house, a new tower
was constructed on the west front, and the foundation and pavements of
buildings along the north front, and connected with the entrance gate
and the gatehouse were laid open, and the walls restored and rebuilt,
and a terrace formed along a part of the curtain. The approach for
carriages was also much improved, though, as before, at the cost of
avoiding the great gatehouse.
The ancient walls incorporated with the later residence prove that
there must have been very considerable buildings upon the ground now
occupied by it, but there is some reason to suppose that both hall and
chapel stood near the site of the later gatehouse, and, therefore, to
the right or west of the original entry. If this be so, the extent of
buildings in the lower ward must have been very considerable indeed,
as in the other direction they certainly extended, as does the present
house, to the foot of the tor, and were flanked by it. Nevertheless,
considerable as the alterations have been, and handsome and convenient
as are the rooms of the present mansion, it represents very fairly
the original fortress, and, like it, is sheltered by the tor, and
predominates over the park, the town, and the sea-coast, commanding a
very extensive view, and, as becomes the representative of so important
a military post, is itself visible from the tract of country of which
it was sometimes the terror, but more frequently the protection.