Taunton Castle, Castle and history museum in Taunton, England
Taunton Castle is a medieval stone fortress in the center of Taunton, Somerset, later altered in the Tudor period. It now houses the Museum of Somerset, which displays collections spanning the region's past from prehistory through to more recent times.
The castle was founded in the early 12th century by a Bishop of Winchester and rebuilt several times over the following centuries. In the 17th century it became the site of the Bloody Assize, when Judge Jeffreys sentenced hundreds of men after the failed Monmouth Rebellion.
The museum inside holds Roman finds from the region, including coins and mosaics that show what daily life looked like here many centuries ago. These objects link the town to a distant past that most visitors would not expect to find this far west in England.
The museum entrance is in the castle courtyard, which is easy to reach on foot from Taunton town center. A cafe inside the courtyard makes it a practical stop for a break before or after exploring the collections.
The castle's great hall was used as a courtroom during the Bloody Assize of 1685, and the room where hundreds of men faced Judge Jeffreys can still be visited today. Standing in that space gives a direct sense of the scale of what happened there.
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