Castle Neroche

Castle Neroche stands on a hill 260 metres high in the Blackdown Hills of Somerset. It is a Norman motte-and-bailey castle built on the site of an earlier Iron Age hill fort. The hill is part of a 91-square-kilometre landscape partnership called the Neroche Scheme. Trails and a public forest have been created here by Forestry England with help from the Heritage Lottery Fund and local groups. The castle is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, recognised for its historical importance. The name Neroche may come from Old English words meaning a camp where hunting dogs were kept. The site is also known as Castle Rache for the same reason. Archaeologist Barry Cunliffe has written about the role of Iron Age hill forts in defending communities during times of tension. Excavations in 1903 by Harold St George Gray found no Iron Age remains but showed the site had been strengthened with extra earthworks. Nearby finds include Mesolithic flints and a Bronze Age copper axe from 1857. Visitors walk through the remains of the castle’s ramparts and inner ringwork. The motte rises 6 metres high and once had a barbican at one corner. The castle was used again during The Anarchy in the 12th century. A field below the hill marks where a Royal Air Force B-24 Liberator crashed in 1945, killing 27 people. The surrounding forest offers long views across the Somerset countryside.