After the Conquest William 1st adopted the town, and both he and his wife gave many relics to the Abbey. He also reaffirmed the Charter, but in spite of this he was not popular as he naturally gave all the "plums" of Monastic rights to his Normans to the dismay of the Saxons.
His wife Mathilda, whom William of Malmesbury called the "mirror of prudence and the pink of modesty" extended the official five days "St. Aldhelm's Fair" to eight days.
It is interesting to note that the old Historian was much more in favour of the wife than of her husband, but she had been of great assistance to the town. What he did not know however was the fact that although her character was much admired by him, she was having an "affair" with one of her husband's noblemen about that time. This was discovered and the lover duly dealt with. After the death of her husband, Mathilda erected and endowed a church to her lover's memory at Avening just beyond Tetbury not far from Malmesbury. This delightful Church is still intact and a memorial to their romance.
About 1100 the Castle of Malmesbury was built by Roger le Poer, the agressive Bishop of Salisbury, who was always at loggerheads with the Abbey. He purposely built it close to the West end of the Abbey to annoy the Monks, which caused friction from the start, so much so that in fact it was
The Old Bell Hotel
ordered to be destroyed in the reign of King John (1199-1215) after an appeal from the Abbot and Monks. It is on record that Pope Alexander gave the Abbot authority to excommunicate the members of the garrison for their depredations on the Abbey and for interfering with their water supply at Mundains Well. Some remains of the old Castle still remain in what is now the Old Bell Hotel.
The Castle was certainly started before 1139 as William of Malmesbury was living at the time. In 1139 Malmesbury was again sacked and ravished by one Robert Fitzhugh "a savage barbarian and predatory Baron" but he was fortunately caught and hanged a fortnight later at Chippenham.
The castle played an important part in the siege of Malmesbury in 1155 in the wars between Stephen and Maud, widow of Henry 1st, when the town was taken by the Queen and all except one tower of the Castle, named Jordon's Tower, which held out for the Queen. There is a graphic account of the actual battle when Stephen tried to retake the town and relieve Jordon's Tower.
His men were drawn up in the Daniel's Well area, that is, in the valley opposite the Old Bell Hotel nowadays, with the swollen river in front and the ramparts facing them when "there came a sudden hailstorm in the faces of Stephen's men who quite benumbed by the wet and cold lost all use of their arms, all strength and courage, whilst those of the Duke being much sheltered suffered little by it," so Stephen withdrew leaving the town in the Queen's hand and Jordon's Tower to its fate.
This eventually fell after a long siege but I am unable to discover what happened to the defenders. There was sufficient of the Castle left to be able to take part in the Civil Wars however.
In the Old Bell Hotel there are some immensly thick walls, and an old Norman Arch (now largely covered by a wooden structure unfortunately). Under the structure there are many underground passages which were bricked up early in this century for safety's sake, and under the kitchen are known to be eight stone coffins in a vaulted chamber and a skeleton of a woman was found bricked up in one of the walls.
