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Bagenals Castle

The Present Structure

The castle as it stands today is clearly the remains of Bagenal's castle as depicted on the 16th -century map and drawings. However, centuries of reuse have caused many alterations. The original front door has been blocked and a larger one made to the north. The stair tower was removed, using gunpowder, in the late 1700s. The north and east walls were extensively breached on the ground floor to accommodate the Bakery activities. New openings were made in the first floor to provide access from the warehouse to north (in the 18th century?) and later buildings to east. All the original windows were blocked at various stages although the internal embrasures remain.

Some stripping of wall plaster to assist examination of the building since 1996, has exposed joist pockets for the first and second floors. It is likely that the present ground floor level is about 3ft above the original.

The projecting tower at the north east angle has been removed to below ground level except for its north wall which was incorporated into the later warehouse. The foundation of this tower was recovered in ground preparation for the adjacent car park and it is covered with the remains of a concrete floor.

A fine stone corbel was discovered high on the west face of the castle. It had been concealed behind a lift shaft for many years. This may be a support for the wall walk or one of the machicolation brackets, the defensive feature over the two doors.