WALTON CASTLE

Somerset

Walton Castle is a peculiar beast.  It looks almost exactly like one of Henry VIIIs Castles; although it is both on the wrong coast and in the wrong position, standing as it does not by the coast but at the top of a very tall hill indeed, making it visible from miles around.

It was built as a kind of elaborate house by a Puritan cavalier named John Poulett sometime between 1614 and 1620.  Which makes it a very early example indeed of a "mock gothick" Castle.  It could almost be considered that Poulett had defence at the back of his mind, for given only a small amount of work Walton Castle, due to its position and manner of construcion, could surely have been turned into a true Castle.

Whatever the case by 1791 it was derelict, and remained that way for just short of two centuries. Recently it has been turned into a private house.  It stands near the Walton-in-Gordano Golf Course and is viewable from most angles from footpaths criss-crossing the hill.

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2019