So we're looking at the lost road. If you click the 4th thumbnail you can see where the old road was on a google aerial photo.
Moving up the lost road, on the left side we see a strip of coppice. An area of cropped trees and easily cut young wood with lots of uses including making furniture , fences and firewood.
A bit further up the lost road we're in the present day Lloyds carpark.
Bit further up the lost road and if you click on the 4th thumbnail you'll see a view looking back down the hill from here.
At the end of the lost road it crosses through the Church street public carpark. Notice the stone cross in the middle of the 1400s shot.
The stone cross is on the right of this shot and in front of us running from left to right would be Church street, but it doesn't exist yet. Instead, in front of us we see the north road that joins St Thomas's road that goes to to Hilperton. INext we're going to stand before the cross, turn round and and look down at the fork in the road..
. This is the view as you approached the town from the north. Right for the town, left for the church and castle. This road is another lost road that's now built over. The town cross standing in the middle here was placed on the Andrews and Dury map in a way that makes it visible on the map, not in a way that represents it's likely location. Looking at everything in 3 dimensions though, the only place it can go around here in the road, without looking seriously odd or getting in the way, is right on the fork of the road.
Clicking the 5th thumbnail the green around shows where we are and the direcvtion we're looking in and you can see a small piece of land coloured also green, part of which today is a commemorative garden. This is the gap between the Old north road and the newer Union street. It's curious shape can be clearly seen on the 1899 map in the final thumbnail.
Clicking the 5th thumbnail the green around shows where we are and the direcvtion we're looking in and you can see a small piece of land coloured also green, part of which today is a commemorative garden. This is the gap between the Old north road and the newer Union street. It's curious shape can be clearly seen on the 1899 map in the final thumbnail.
We now start to travel down the other lost road that leads to the church and castle. BY clicking the 2nd thumbnail we see the view as it is today and note that the stonework at the base of the building on the left appears worn enough to be 600 years old. I think that stonework is likely to be part of the building shown on the Andrews and Dury map and the 1899 ordinancs survey map at this location.
On the left is another part of the same building that survived until the 19th century.
At the end of this lost road is the large open space of St James festival site and market. If you click on the 2nd thumbnail you can see that today it's Castle street
This is the St James festival site from above. Click on the 2nd thumbnail to see from the green arrow where we are and what direction we're looking in and and the 3rd thumbnail to see how the same scene may have looked when the castle was in use. It was a time when St James festival site was the only market space when most of the town was contained within the castle walls. Being outside the castle, people could freely trade there without the burden of checking everything in and out through castle security.
I think the castle had an entrapment entrance. You can't ram it head on, and anyone or anything that approaches the gatehouse has to go down what is now Red hat lane, while receiving close quarter fire from 2 sides. The siting of St James church outside the castle close by the castle entrance makes the castle entrance tricky to attack, as the penalty for disrespecting god and his house was eternal damnation. Something everyone at the time took very seriously. So damaging a church in a battle could be pretty bad. So placing it there makes things awkward for an enemy, and seriously restricts where you can place a catapult to hit the front gates successfully without being constantly fired on.
I think the castle had an entrapment entrance. You can't ram it head on, and anyone or anything that approaches the gatehouse has to go down what is now Red hat lane, while receiving close quarter fire from 2 sides. The siting of St James church outside the castle close by the castle entrance makes the castle entrance tricky to attack, as the penalty for disrespecting god and his house was eternal damnation. Something everyone at the time took very seriously. So damaging a church in a battle could be pretty bad. So placing it there makes things awkward for an enemy, and seriously restricts where you can place a catapult to hit the front gates successfully without being constantly fired on.
The church had a lovely big front church yard. Most churches at the time had a lych gate like this for funerals. We'll see a little more of the church in the next tour, and have a look at the old castle.