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Medieval castle in Somerset, England

Nunney Castle is a medieval castle at Nunney in the English county of Somerset. Built in the late 14th century by Sir John Delamare on the profits of his involvement in the Hundred Years' War, the moated castle's architectural style, possibly influenced by the design of French castles, has provoked considerable academic debate. Remodelled during the late 16th century, Nunney Castle was damaged during the English Civil War and is now ruined. English Heritage maintains the site as a tourist attraction. The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner has described Nunney as "aesthetically the most impressive castle in Somerset." Delamare had been a soldier during the Hundred Years War with France, where he had made his fortune. He obtained a licence to crenellate from Edward III to build a castle on the site of his existing, unfortified manor house in 1373 and set about developing a new, substantial fortification. The resulting castle centred on a stone tower keep, measuring 60 feet by 24 feet (18 m by 7 m) internally and 54 feet (16 m) tall, with four round corner towers. The tower keep had eight foot (2.4 m) thick walls made from Lias Oolite ashlar stone and was designed around three floors. The corner towers had conical roofs and prominent machicolations.#tag:ref|Stuart Rigold proposes that the hall was on the second floor, with servants quarters and service offices on the first; Anthony Emery questions the practicality of this design, placing the hall on the first floor; Andor Gomme and Alison Maguire argue in favour of an armoury forming much of the first floor. The tower keep had a modest entrance, which was reached by a draw bridge that lay across the surrounding moat, which initially reached right up to the base of the castle. On the east side of the castle Nunney Brook was used as a line of defence rather than a bailey wall. Whilst Nunney does resemble many French castles, there is no direct evidence that it was built in imitation of these designs, and indeed there are other English castles, such as Mulgrave and Dudley, that have a similar structure to Nunney's. Nunney Castle may be better understood instead as characteristic of a wider range of tower keeps built in England during the period, designed, as Nigel Pounds puts it, "to allow very rich men to live in luxury and splendour."

Nunney Castle was inherited by John's son, Philip Delamere, and grandson, Elias, before passing by marriage into the Poulet family following Elias' probable death during Henry V's campaigns in France. Sir John Poulet and his son John, and grandson, also called John, held the castle during most of the 15th century, but their primary residence was Basing Castle in Hampshire rather than Nunney. William Paulet, the Marquess of Winchester, was the final member of the family to own the castle; after his death in 1572 it passed rapidly through several owners and in 1577 was sold by Swithun Thorpe to John Parker, who only kept it for a year before selling it to Richard Prater, at a cost of £2,000. The castle was redeveloped in the second half of the 16th century, probably by the Praters: the windows were enlarged to let in more light; a grand staircase was built in one of the towers; a Catholic altar was installed, and a revetment, or terrace, was built around the inside of the moat, leaving it 25 feet (7.6 m) wide.

Nunney Castle continued to be owned by the Roman Catholic Prater family into the 17th century. In 1642 the English Civil War broke out between the rival factions of Parliament and the king; like many Catholics, Colonel Richard Prater supported Charles I. In September 1645 a Parliamentary army under the command of Lord Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell advanced into Somerset, taking Sherborne, Cary and Shepton Mallet before turning to Nunney. The castle declined and was sold by the Praters to William Whitchurch around 1700. During the 18th century the building was still in a reasonable condition and in 1789 an order was received to make it ready to receive French prisoners, although it is unlikely that they ever arrived.

By the 20th century, Nunney Castle was increasingly ruined and covered in thick ivy. As a result, on 25 December 1910 a portion of the damaged north wall entirely collapsed — most of the fallen stone is believed to have been stolen by local residents. The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner has described the castle as "aesthetically the most impressive castle in Somerset."