Yarn Market, Dunster fire in the Civil War. Nearby was an older cross known as the Butter Cross which has subsequently been moved to the outskirts of the village. The Yarn Market is an octagonal building constructed around a central pier. The tiled roof provides shelter from the rain. Dunster Castle stands on a site which has been fortified since the late Anglo-Saxon period, signifying the importance of the area. After the Norman conquest of England in the 11th century, William de Mohun constructed a timber castle on the site as part of the pacification of Somerset. A stone shell keep was built
Yarn Market, Dunster is in diameter, has a central stone pier which supports a heavy timber framework for the structure. The slate roof has a central wooden lantern topped by a weather vane. The roof is interrupted by a series of dormer windows. Around the periphery is a low wall and vertical timber supports. Some of the sills are stone and others timber. One of the roof beams has a hole in it, a result of cannon fire in the Civil War, when Dunster Castle was a besieged Royalist stronghold for five months under the command of Colonel Wyndham. Following the damage, it