Castle Neroche Castle Neroche is a Norman motte - and - bailey castle on the site of an earlier hill fort in the parish of Curland , near Staple Fitzpaine , Somerset , England . It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument . Location . The hill rises to on the northern escarpment of the Blackdown Hills . The area is part of a site covered by a landscape partnership , known as the Neroche Scheme which is establishing trails and a public forest . It is led by the Forestry Commission and supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and local organisations . History . The origin of the term Neroche is believed to be a contraction of the Old English words " nierra " and " rechich " or " rachich " for Rache , a type of hunting - dog used in Britain in the Middle Ages , giving a meaning of the " camp where hunting dogs were kept " . This also gives the site its alternative name of Castle Rache . Iron Age . The reason for the construction of Iron Age hill fort s has been a subject of debate . It has been argued that they could have been military sites constructed in response to invasion from continental Europe , sites built by invaders , or a military reaction to social tensions caused by an increasing population and consequent pressure on agriculture . The dominant view since the 1960s has been that the increasing use of iron led to social changes in Britain . Deposits of iron ore were separated from the sources of tin and copper necessary to make bronze , and as a result trading patterns shifted and the old elites lost their economic and social status . Archaeologist Barry Cunliffe believes that population increase played a role and has stated " [ the forts ] provided defensive possibilities for the community at those times when the stress [ of an increasing population ] burst out into open warfare . But I wouldn ' t see them as having been built because there was a state of war . They would be functional as defensive strongholds when there were tensions and undoubtedly some of them were attacked and destroyed , but this was not the only , or even the most significant , factor in their construction " . There is little evidence of Iron Age remains however the situation and shape of the site matches other Iron Age enclosures . There is some indication that the site was strengthened with an additional rampart and outer enclosure . 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 . Norman castle . The earthworks at the site are larger than would normally be found in a castle from the Norman period , raising speculation that it reused previously developed features . The castle was probably built by Robert , Count of Mortain in the 11th century . Archaeological evidence suggests it was built in several stages during the first a rampart enclosing was built . Soon after the Norman Conquest a smaller inner ringwork was constructed . The site was later converted into a motte and bailey , with a corner of the high motte serving as a barbican . By the early 12th century the castle was no longer in regular use , however it was brought back into use during The Anarchy , a period of English history during the reign ( 1135 – 1154 ) of King Stephen , which was characterised by civil war and unsettled government . The period was marked by a succession crisis between the supporters of Stephen and those of his cousin , the Empress Matilda . The continued use in the late 12th century may have been by administrators of the surrounding royal forest as a base for operations against poachers . Air disaster . On 22 September 1945 , a Royal Air Force Consolidated B - 24 Liberator crashed into a field after hitting trees on Blackdown Hills between the castle and Buckland St Mary , killing all 27 people on board .