The Medieval Town of Totnes

The Medieval Town of Totnes. Totnes Castle. The castle occupies the highest point in Totnes, giving its soldiers commanding views over town and countryside. The central area of the town still contains features from its early history, ten centuries ago., Totnes had been an important trading settlement even before the Norman Conquest. At a crossing point over the river Dart, King William I granted the town to his supporter Juhel or Judhael a Breton knight. In the late 11th century, Judhael established a castle, with a courtyard or bailey outside the town itself, and a huge earth mound or motte. The original castle buildings were timber. At around the same time, he founded a Benedictine priory, the late medieval parish church of St Mary now marks its site., The most remarkable survival of early Totnes is its street pattern, still detectable from the castle ramparts. Judhael built the castle partly within the oval-planned bank and ditch of an earlier Saxon borough. The curving North Street and South Street show the line of the original defences, while the central High Street, flanked by narrow properties, runs downhill to East Gate, the limit of the early settlement. But beyond this is another early suburb, running down towards the river, almost certainly founded by Judhael in the 11th century.