IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Castle Grounds, DEVIZES, SN10 1HL

The south tower of the Victorian castle on an ancient site. A grade I listed building.

The castle seen here is an early (1838) Victorian construction. The earliest castle here was built in the 12th century. There is a goldmine of information on the history of Devizes Castle on the Devizes Heritage website http://www.devizesheritage.org.uk/castle.html

I was standing gazing at the beautiful interaction between the delicate wrought-iron gate posts with their carefully-worded messages, the mock-gothic Victorian castle and the restrained architecture of what could be a telephone exchange yet feeling that somehow something was missing, and that the photo was just a little too symmetrical to make the perfect image. At this point a white van man appeared, parked his Renault Trafic and disappeared behind me with a cheery 'good morning'. At this point I knew I had a sure-fire candidate for a 'Photo of the Day', a PoTY, or even, if I took care not to offend anyone, a 'stellar description'. If any of these predictions come to pass I will abstain from my daily McDonald's Quarter Pounder with Cheese for at least a day.

A private residence, The Castle Gatehouse dates to circa 1860 when the castle was expanded from the reconstruction of circa 1840. Listed, grade II, with details at: https://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1249360 The entire site of the original castle with its origins in 1080 is a Scheduled Ancient Monument with much history and detail at: https://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1021375 The market town of Devizes developed around its 11th century castle. It gained a charter in 1141 and holds a weekly market in the large and picturesque Market Place. In the 16th century the town became known for its textiles and in the early 18th century held the largest corn market in the West Country. Devizes has about 500 listed buildings - a very large number for a small town.

The railway line through Devizes closed in 1966. This is looking towards the north end of a 190 yard tunnel under Devizes Castle grounds. It is now used as a shooting range accessed from this end, the other end is blocked, see Image The tunnel is slightly curved, but apparently not enough to inconvenience its current use. This end is also of larger dimensions than the other end. Old maps show two tracks entering at this end and one leaving at the other end. It was built for the GWR broad gauge.

New use for an old railway tunnel. The Devizes branch line was built in 1857, including a tunnel passing directly under Devizes Castle. The line was closed in 1966.

The tunnel was constructed in 1862 to take the railway line from Devizes on to Pewsey. The other end of the tunnel can now be seen at the eastern end of the Station Road car park. The railway line was closed in the Beeching cuts of 1966.

The line through Devizes closed in 1966. This is looking towards the south end of a 190 yard tunnel under Devizes Castle grounds. The line at the far end ran directly into Devizes station.

The railway started its working life in 1857 when the railway first envisaged by the short-lived Wiltshire, Somerset and Weymouth Railway as far back as 1845 finally opened (by 1854 when construction started, the WS&WR had been absorbed into the Great Western Railway). At that time the line from Holt Junction, to the west on the still-extant main line from Chippenham and points east to Trowbridge and points west, to Devizes terminated in the town. However, five years on, in 1862, the line was extended to Patney and Chirton on the, again still open, main line between Newbury and Westbury so that the former branch line provided a through route. Topography necessitated the construction of a tunnel under Devizes Castle, the blocked-up east portal of which can be seen in this image. The railway had its ups and downs and was particularly busy in the second world war. Some troops from the retreat of Dunkirk passed through Devizes Station as did many enemy prisoners of war. Following the end of hostilities the line went into decline as road traffic grew and the last passenger train left Devizes on 16 April 1966. This section of trackbed seems to be in private hands although there is a public footpath carried by a bridge over the line which provided the viewpoint. The information above was found in 'Wiltshire Railway Stations' by Mike Oakley published by the Dovecote Press in 2004 ISBN 1 904349 33 1.