page_title: Devizes Castle
section_title: Victorian rebuilding
hierarchical_section_title: Devizes Castle / Victorian rebuilding
caption_attribution_description: English: Devizes Castle plan 1883, trimmed and balanced.
context_page_description: Devizes Castle was a medieval fortification in the town of Devizes, Wiltshire, England, on a site now occupied by a Victorian-era castle. It is a Grade I listed building. The original castle was overbuilt by the current structure. Records indicate that the first castle on the site had its origins in about 1080 as an early Norman motte and bailey with wooden pallisade and tower.
context_section_description: In 1838 the castle lands were acquired by J. N. Tylee who sold them in 1838 to Valentine Leach, a Devizes tradesman. The present castellated Victorian era 'castle', which is Neo Norman/Gothic architecture in style, was built by the Leach family in the 19th century. It was begun in 1842 to a boldly asymmetrical design  by Henry Goodridge, an architect from Bath. It was extended northwards in the 1860s and succeeding decades. The north tower incorporates the remains of a 17th-century brick windmill. 
  According to the National Heritage List, excavations of the keep and aisled building were first done in 1858 and indicated "a number of lesser buildings surrounding the hall". The moat was excavated in 1860 when Leach was enlarging the castle. By that time, excavations had already found the footings of the former hall piers. 
  Over the next century, the castle was owned by  Sir Charles Rich, Bt. (d. 1913) who made some alterations, then by E. C. Reed, then by R. J. Clappen. In 1951 Mr. H. Brown bought the property divided it into two lots. He sold the "North Tower" to W. B. Medlam who sold it in 1955 to Mr. E. B. M. Kemp. The "South Tower" was sold to T. G. Waugh, then to R. N. Newsome, then to Delia G. M. Tudor-Hart in 1956 and to Mrs. I. M. Durand in 1961.
  The current castle, with its turrets, towers and castellations, on a 2.4 acre property,  was Grade I listed in 1972 as DEVIZES CASTLE INCLUDING GLASS HOUSE AND GARDEN WALLS ENCIRCLING WEST SIDE OF MOUND. The listing provides specifics as to modifications and enlargement made in the 1860s, 70s and 80s. The interior is described as "designed in a mixture of neo-Norman, Gothic and C16 styles. The drawing room and bedroom in the northern section facing west have the partly original frames of C16 or early C17 ceilings inserted with carved and gilded bosses, small brackets and ribs, the whole completed in plaster".
caption: 1883 plan of the castle, from the estate sale
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