Mere Castle (ME011), built by Richard, Earl of Cornwall in 1253. This is recorded as a rectangular stone-built structure with six towers, incorporating a hall, an inner and outer gate, a deep well and a chapel. Records exist for extensive repairs to the structure in 1300, indicating the original build to have been sub-standard, although the motive for this renovation may have been a potential rebellion by a faction of the Barons. After this date little is known of the castle’s history, although it was evidently abandoned by 1398, when Richard II ordered lead to be stripped from its roofs for his castle at Portchester, Hampshire (Colvin 1963). When Aubrey visited the town in 1660 he was shown Castle Hill and told ‘here anciently stood a castle’(Mere Editing Committee 1958), indicating there to be no above-ground masonry surviving at that time. An 18th century visitor was shown the castle ruins and remarked upon the partially exposed plastered wall visible where rubblestone had been robbed by the townsfolk (much of Mere’s built heritage is constructed of stone robbed from the castle) (Cassell 1994). (Mcmahon)Castle Hill represents the remains of an Enclosure Castle, one of only 126 recorded nationally. Substantial below-ground remains exist on the site. Periods of 'robbing' of stone are documented. Geophysical survey data supplied by GSB (held by Wessex Archaeology) suggests that at least some areas survive in relatively good condition, although it is clear that other areas survive as rubble. Celia Fiennes described diggings which revealed an apparent 'cell or vault' with white plastered walls in 1888. (Wilts SMR)

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Name	Mere Castle Hill
Alternative Names
Historic County	Wiltshire
Civil Parish	Mere
Type	Masonry Castle
Confidence	Certain
Remains	Earthworks
Listed	Not listed
Scheduled Ancient Monument	Yes
Ordnance Survey Reference	ST809325
Eastings	380950
Northing	132540
Images of England Reference
PastScape Reference	207257
Historic Environment Record	ST83SW454

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StreetMaps

Books

• Mcmahon, Phil, 2004, The Archaeology of Wiltshire’s Towns An Extensive Urban Survey Mere (Wiltshire County Archaeology Service) http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-906-1/dissemination/pdf/EUS_Texts/Mere.pdf
• Salter, Mike, 2002, Index and Amendments to Mike Salter's English Castles Books (Malvern) p11
• Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Wessex (Malvern) p96
• Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p278 [slight]
• King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p499-500
• Pevsner, N. (Revised by Cherry, Bridget), 1975, The Buildings of England: Wiltshire (London, Penguin) p34-8
• Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO)
• Johnson and others, 1958, The Story of Mere (Gillingham) p31-2 and plate 3
• Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol1 p230
• Hoare, Richard Colt, 1822, The History of Modern Wiltshire: Mere p210, 220-1, 226

Antiquarian

• Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p504

Journals

• Stevens, F., 1940-2, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol49 p157-9
• 1937-8, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol48 p432
• 1935-7, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol47 p540-1
• Baker, T.H., 1896, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol29 p229 [history only]

Guidebooks

• Cassell, S., 1994, Mere Castle (Friends of Mere Museum. Mere Museum monographs – No. 1)

Primary Sources

• Calendar of Patent Rolls (1247-58) p208
• Rickard, John, 2002, The Castle Community. The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 (Boydell Press) [lists sources for 1272-1422] p466-7