King John was six times at Bridgenorth, passing there about fourteen days. He confirmed a charter of incorporation to the town. Both he and his predecessor, Richard, kept up the castle, as is attested by frequent charges for repairs during sixteen years. In 1198 there was paid 6s. 3d. for the hire of the barge in which the wife of Griffith ab Rhys was conveyed from Bridgenorth to Gloucester. In 1203 John presented to a prebend in the castle chapel. In 1209 a stag from the adjacent forest entered the castle through a postern and was captured, and no doubt converted into venison by the castellans. For this they were prosecuted by the verdurers, and the proceedings imply that the castle was then in charge of five persons only, of whom one was the constable. No doubt in time of peace the royal castles were left almost to themselves, and often not even kept in repair. When a war arose they were repaired, garrisoned, and victualled in all haste. So far as repairs went, Bridgenorth, however, seems to have fared well. We read of repairs on the king’s house, on the basement of the castle, on the “Barbe-kana et Pons-tornalis” or barbican and drawbridge; on the turret of the outer wall, the chimney of the great chamber, the castle walls, the tower, the well, the glass windows in the hall, the queen’s oriel, and the chapel. These charges are continued through the reign of Henry III., and well into that of Edward I., from 1218 to 1281. In 1232 the sheriff was to cause to be repaired the castle stable, and the kitchen within the barbican of the tower, and in 1244-5 was a charge for covering the tower at Brug with lead. This was probably the keep. In 1267, Henry III. and his queen were at Bridgenorth, and it would seem that the Mortimers were still connected with the castle, for, in 1273, on the death of Hugh de Mortimer, Edward I. continued his successor Ralph in the offices of sheriff of the county and constable of the castle. In 1281 an inquisition was held upon the state of the building, which had latterly been neglected. The timbers of the great tower were rotten, the leaden covering having been carried away; also the castle bridge was broken down, so that carriages could not cross it.