This description of Farleigh Hungerford, Somerset, England was written and drawn by a Miss Palmer and published by the Ilam anastatic drawing society in 1862
The village of Farleigh Hungerford, is situated on the borders of Somersetshire, eight miles from Bath. The ruins of the castle are of great extent, and highly picturesque, situated on a rocky ridge. The river Frome, flowing at the foot, separates the counties of Somerset and Wilts. From 1369 to 1686 this castle was in the possession of the powerful family of Hungerford ; the last knight of that name (Sir Edward) sold these vast estates in 1686, and died in London in 1711.
The artist and the archaeologist will find many subjects of beauty and interest in a ramble round these ruins. Legends of “the great people” still linger in the neighbourhood, one of which being connected with the north-east tower (to the right of the sketch), is worth recording. Its truth is corroborated by the discovery of a petition to the state (still in existence). The petitioner was the third wife of Sir Walter Hungerford (afterwards Lord Hungerford of Heytesbury). She begs deliverance from the tower where she had been confined during four years by her husband, aided by the priest, Sir John à Lee. The poor lady was only saved from starving by the country women bringing food at night, to her prison window. For other crimes Sir Walter was beheaded in 1540 ; his wife married, secondly, Sir Eobert Throckmorton, of Coughton, Co. Warwick. Margaret Plantagenet, Countess of Salisbury, and mother of Cardinal Pole, was born in this castle, 1473. She was cruelly beheaded by order of Henry VIII, in 1541.
