Castle Neroche

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Castle Neroche is a Norman motte-and-bailey castle on the site of an earlier hill fort near Staple Fitzpaine, Somerset, England. The hill rises to 260 m on the northern escarpment of the Blackdown Hills. The castle was probably built by Robert of Mortain in the 11th century and probably went out of use in the 12th.^[1]

The site was excavated by Mr. H. St. George Gray in 1903. There have also been nearby archaeological finds of Mesolithic flints, and a Bronze Age copper axe found in 1857, but nothing from the Iron Age or Roman periods.

[edit] References

1. ^ Adkins, Lesley and Roy (1992). A field Guide to Somerset Archeology. Stanbridge: Dovecote press. ISBN 0946159947. 

• Gray St G 1904. Excavation at Castle Neroche , Proc. Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society 49, 23-53.
• Burrow, E J 1924. Ancient Earthworks and Camps of Somerset.
• Davidson B K 1972. Castle Neroche, an abandoned Norman fortress in South Somerset. Proc. Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society, 116, 16-58.

• Somerset Historic Environment Record:
  • Castle Neroche (record no. 43844)
  • Copper Axe (record no. 43565)
  • Mesolithic flints (record no. 55598)

Coordinates: 50.9361° N -3.0346° W