Dunster Castle 
He also added to the outer wall a wing and a porch 
tower. The chief room of interest inside the castle is 
the gallery with its polished oak floor and cornice of 
the date of 1620, its fine Chippendale settees and 
chairs and its walls hung with very curious Italian, 
probably Venetian, painted leather of the seven¬ 
teenth century, the skins being covered with silver 
leaf and in some parts glazed over with transparent 
color giving the effect of gold and representing the 
history of Cleopatra. She appears as a golden 
haired, fair complexioned Venetian beauty in the 
rich dress of the seventeenth century and we see her 
marriage with Antony, their riding together at the 
head of their troops, the death of Antony, Cleo¬ 
patra’s interview with Octavius Caesar and the 
death of the Queen surrounded by her maidens and 
holding the asp to her breast. Tradition says that 
the ship which was bringing 
these hangings to England was 
wrecked oft' the coast, opposite 
Dunster, and the Lord of 
Dunster having a right to all 
that was cast on the fore¬ 
shore, these panels became his 
property. On the right hand 
side of the gallery a door 
leads into a bedroom, known 
as King Charles’s room, from 
its having been occupied by 
Charles II. when, as Prince of 
Wales, he resided for some 
time at Dunster after the bat¬ 
tle of Naseby “to encourage 
the new levies.” He was 
probably given this room as it 
contains a secret cupboard in 
the thickness of the wall with a 
stone seat at the further end, 
in which he could conceal 
himself should occasion arise. 
1 he last royal personage who 
stayed at Dunster was the 
present King, Edward VII., 
who, when Prince of Wales, 
came there for some stag 
hunting with the Devon and 
Somerset hounds. It must 
not be forgotten that Dunster 
Castle underwent a siege in the 
days of Charles I. The then 
owner, George Luttrell, sym¬ 
pathized with the Parliamen¬ 
tary party and held the castle 
for them, but when the Royal¬ 
ist successes seemed to promise 
that party ultimate victory, he 
thought it wiser to deliver up 
the castle to Colonel Windham 
for the King. When the tide turned and all the 
surrounding country submitted to the Parliament, 
Colonel Blake was sent with a large force to retake 
Dunster. For one hundred and sixty days, in 
spite of lack of provisions and water, did Colonel 
Windham gallantly hold out. A mine was sprung 
and a breach made in the wall but the subsequent 
attack failed. It was only when reduced by priva¬ 
tion and weakness and finding that all hopes of relief 
by the King’s troops was at an end that he sur¬ 
rendered and marched out with full honors of war. 
After that the Parliamentary garrison held the castle 
for five years, and during that time Thomas Prynne 
was imprisoned there for eight months for seditious 
writings, by Cromwell’s orders. Eventually it was 
decided to dismantle the castle as a fortress, the Keep 
was pulled down and only the domestic buildings 
THE STAIRCASE—DUNSTER CASTLE 
57 
