Details

The monument includes an enclosure castle situated on high ground on the south
bank of a bend in the River Frome. The castle which is Listed Grade I includes
an inner court and outer court with natural and man-made defences surrounding
it.
The inner court lies at the north west end of the castle and comprises a hall
with curtain wall and towers. The hall is of quadrangular plan comprising a
rectangular enclosure surrounded by a curtain wall with a circular tower at
each angle. The entrance to the hall is in the middle of the south side. The
inside of much of the keep was divided into living quarters, which included a
hall and kitchen, seen now as wall footings and substructures, while the
northern corner was devoted to a garden. The north east and north west towers
are ruined down to basement level, but the south west and south east towers
remain upstanding in part. The curtain wall stands to full height in some
places and is ruinous elsewhere. An inner gate, barbican and ditch separate
the hall from the outer court. The ditch to the east of the gate is partly
infilled; in the 17th century it contained a garden.
The outer court, lying to the south east of the hall, is formed by a curtain
wall which abuts the hall and encloses an irregular area of c.3000 sq metres.
In the outer court is a chapel, the Priest's House, and the site of the
stables. The curtain wall around the outer court has a tower and two entrances
in its circuit, a west gate and an east gate formerly with a tower. In the
outer court the chapel of Saint Leonard (Listed Grade I) and the Priest's
House (Listed Grade II*) are still intact. The chapel was the parish church
which was originally outside the defences, but was included within the outer
court as the castle chapel when the curtain was built. The Priest's House is
east of the chapel and separated from it by a narrow courtyard, and was
extended northward to form a long low building in the 17th century. There is
one tower, the south tower, surviving in the curtain wall. This has an arch
restored in modern times which is included in the scheduling. The main
entrance to the outer court is by the east gate. The gatehouse has modern
battlements, as does the curtain wall in this area. The modern battlements are
included in the scheduling to preserve the uniformity of the building as it
exists today. Originally there was a drawbridge, but the ditch here was
backfilled and domestic buildings erected in 1610-20. Their foundations are
visible to the west of the causeway. Beyond the curtain wall and the keep is
the natural defence of a steep scarp on the north and east sides of the
castle. On the west and south sides the castle is defended by a moat.
From the reign of William II to that of Edward III, Farleigh was held by
the Montfort family and was known as Farleigh Montfort. Their original manor
house was on the site of the later castle. In 1369-70 the manor was bought by
Sir Thomas de Hungerford, who had been Speaker in the House of Commons in
1377. It was Sir Thomas who fortified the manor house and built the hall in
1380-90. His son, Sir Walter Hungerford, also a Speaker in the House of
Commons, became Lord Hungerford in 1426, and from this time Farleigh was known
as Farleigh Hungerford. Lord Hungerford added the outer court in 1420-30
including the moat with two dams, only one of which survives, to control the
flow of water. The castle remained in the Hungerford family almost continually
until 1686. In 1701 it was described as being very ruinous. All the buildings
of the inner court, except the south east and south west towers and parts of
the curtain wall, were destroyed in the 18th century. Eventually in 1915 it
was placed in state care. In 1973-76 excavations were carried out north of the
chapel and on the ditch and curtain wall of the west side of the outer court.
A number of features within the area are excluded from the scheduling; these
are the chapel, which is still in occasional use, wooden fence posts,
telegraph poles, signs, tarmac and gravel surfaces, the garage abutting the
south east part of the curtain wall, the former ticket office and toilets and
modern fixtures and fittings within the Priest's House, the ground beneath all
these features, however, is included.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

An enclosure castle is a defended residence or stronghold, built mainly of
stone, in which the principal or sole defence comprises the walls and towers
bounding the site. Some form of keep may have stood within the enclosure but
this was not significant in defensive terms and served mainly to provide
accommodation. Larger sites might have more than one line of walling and there
are normally mural towers and gatehouses. Outside the walls a ditch, either
waterfilled or dry, crossed by bridges may be found. The first enclosure
castles were constructed at the time of the Norman Conquest. However, they
developed considerably in form during the 12th century when defensive
experience gained during the Crusades was applied to their design. The
majority of examples were constructed in the 13th century although a few were
built as late as the 14th century. Some represent reconstructions of earlier
medieval earthwork castles of the motte and bailey type, although others were
new creations. They provided strongly defended residences for the king or
leading families and occur in both urban and rural situations. Enclosure
castles are widely dispersed throughout England, with a slight concentration
in Kent and Sussex supporting a vulnerable coast, and a strong concentration
along the Welsh border where some of the best examples were built under Edward
I. They are rare nationally with only 126 recorded examples. Considerable
diversity of form is exhibited with no two examples being exactly alike. With
other castle types, they are major medieval monument types which, belonging to
the highest levels of society, frequently acted as major administrative
centres and formed the foci for developing settlement patterns. Castles
generally provide an emotive and evocative link to the past and can provide a
valuable educational resource, both with respect to medieval warfare and
defence and with respect to wider aspects of medieval society. All examples
retaining significant remains of medieval date are considered to be nationally
important.

The enclosure castle known as Farleigh Hungerford Castle is a striking and
well preserved example of its class and is much visited by the public. The
castle's builder, Sir Thomas Hungerford, was a prominent figure in the late
14th century and subsequent members of the Hungerford family played leading
parts in the history of the country. The castle is well documented throughout
its history. Farleigh Hungerford Castle is known from excavation to contain
archaeological information and environmental evidence relating to the castle
and the landscape in which it was constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
English Heritage, , Farleigh Hungerford Castle, (1983), 8-9
English Heritage, , Farleigh Hungerford Castle, (1983), 11
English Heritage, , Farleigh Hungerford Castle, (1983)
English Heritage, , Farleigh Hungerford Castle, (1983), 3
English Heritage, , Farleigh Hungerford Castle, (1983), 4
English Heritage, , Farleigh Hungerford Castle, (1983), 10-11

Source: Historic England