What is recorded here

Mere Castle stood as a six-towered stone fortress on a chalk ridge in Wiltshire, built by Richard, the Earl of Cornwall, in 1253 to watch over a small village. The kingdom later stripped its lead and stone for other uses, leaving only earthworks behind. That bare hill still holds an Easter ceremony for the 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division, proving that memory can occupy a castle even when the castle has vanished.

The National Heritage List for England records Mere Castle as a scheduled monument. The saved point comes from the centre supplied by the official record. Listing does not by itself mean that the public may enter the place.

Mere Castle is a Norman motte-and-bailey castle, built in the 12th century, likely by a local lord under the authority of the Crown. It is remembered as an example of early medieval military architecture and as evidence of post-Conquest settlement and control in the region.

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