[1] Antony Bek inherited Somerton from his mother, Eva de Gray, and built the castle after being granted a licence to crenellate in 1281.

They married later that year, although without royal authority and so, by order of Edward III, they were held captive in separate towers in Somerton Castle.

Royal assent was granted on 20 March 1336, however de Fresne died in December 1336 and the countess Alice returned to Bolingbroke.

After Crabbe's death in 1351/2, Stephen Shawe was appointed as Constable and regular repairs took place to the domestic buildings in the inner court.

Further repairs and alterations took place in 1359-60 when King John II of France was held captive in the castle having been taken prisoner after the Battle of Poitiers.

[4] By 1393 the castle was reported as being defective in walls, gates, towers , bridges, ditches, lead roofing , tiling, boarding, glazing and ironwork and would need the expenditure of £100 to repair.

The works carried out included making good the roof of the queen's hall, with its buttery and pantry, and repairing the chapel and chamber of St Christopher.

A Duchy of Lancaster Survey of 1601 described the castle as being utterly defaced and fallen almost downe to the ground, but one of the four towers was standing almost to its full height.

These open-backed artillery towers started appearing in Europe around 1330 and would have been familiar to John Crabbe, the Constable of the Castle, who came from Flanders.