22 PAPEKS, ETC. 



destroyed by Ethelburga, until the reign of Henry I., 

 when William GifFord, who, as Bishop of Wiucliester, 

 at that time held the lordship of the town and manor of 

 Taunton, built a streng Castle upon the site of the Saxon 

 fortress. From tlie nuniber of docuraents dated at 

 Taunton Castle, it appears to have been frequently occupied 

 by the Bishops of Winchestei', and was enlarged and 

 strengthened by them from time to time, as their conveni- 

 ence or security required. In the year 1490, Bishop 

 Langton repaired the whole building. In the year 1496 

 the inhabitants of Cornwall being highly irritated by the 

 oppressive manner in which the taxes, newly imposed by 

 Henry VII., were levied upon thera, rose in resistance of 

 them, and having taken the Castle of Taunton, cruelly 

 murdered the Provost of Peni'hyn, who had sought refuge 

 wlthiu its walls, and the next year, under the command of 

 Perkin Warbeck, agaia occupied that fortress ; but upon 

 hearing that the King was in person leading a sti'ong army 

 against them, evacuated the place just in time to save it 

 from the horrors of a siege. 



In the year 1577, the Castle was again repaired and 

 altered, by Bishop Hörn. The last mention of Taunton, 

 as a place of mllitary importauce, occurs in the reign of 

 Charles I., when it was occupied by the Parliamentarian 

 army, and, after a short Investment, taken from them by 

 the royal forces, under the Marquis of Hertford, and was 

 again seized by Blake, whose occupation and defence of 

 the town and Castle against a very powerful royalist army, 

 under Goring, is, perhaps, one of the most remarkable 

 instances of military darlng and skill recorded in the 

 history of that eventful time. Shortly after the rcstoration 

 it was disraantled, by order of Charles IL ; and though 

 parts of it are stiU used for civil and domestic pui'poses, 



