James Waylen's painting of how the old Devizes Castle might have lookedALTHOUGH there is ample evidence of Bronze Age and Roman occupation around the outskirts of the town, Devizes did not come into being until after the Norman Conquest of 1066.

The first Devizes Castle was built around 1080 by Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury. Built on the boundaries of his manors of Potterne and Cannings, it became known as

"castrum ad divisas", the castle at the boundaries and the name soon became shortened to Devizes.

The old castle burned down in 1113, and was rebuilt in stone by Osmund's successor as Bishop of Salisbury, Roger of Caen. Roger's castle was described at the time it was built as "the finest and most splendid in Europe" and, although no contemporary drawings of it exist, a painting of how it might have looked by local artist James Waylen hangs behind the mayor's chair in the council chamber at the town hall.

Devizes received its royal charter, creating it a Royal Borough and giving it the right to hold weekly markets, from the Empress Maud, or Matilda, to whose aid the town came during her struggle against her brother Stephen for the crown of England.

According to Dr Lorna Haycock in her guide to the town, the lordship of the castle was one of the most important grants in the gift of the Crown, encompassing an area including Devizes and Rowde, the Old and New Parks, the right of appointment to the two churches and the forests of Chippenham and Melksham.

As one of the stoutest defensive castles in the West Country, Devizes Castle was often used to imprison high-profile personalities.

In 1216, King John sent the Crown jewels and royal regalia there for safekeeping during a French invasion. As time went on and peace spread across the land, there was little need for such great defensive castles.

The keep and outer bailey fell into disrepair and, by the time Oliver Cromwell laid siege to the town during the English Civil War, neglect had all but put paid to it as a place of refuge. Cromwell completed the job by "slighting" it allowing local people to dismantle it and use the stone for building.

A modern, neo-Gothic castellated mansion was built on the site by businessman Valentine Leach and his son between 1840 and 1880. The castle site is now under multiple private ownership.