In June of 1685 James Scott 1st Duke of Monmouth attempted to overthrow the king, James 2nd. This event has come to be known as the Monmouth Rebellion. James had been crowned in February of that year and was an unpopular catholic king.

The Duke of Monmouth landed in Lyme Regis and made his way to Weston Zoyland near Bridgwater where his untrained and ill equipped army were defeated. The Duke fled the battle field but was eventually captured in Hampshire and taken to the Tower of London. He was executed by beheading and it is reported to have taken several blows of the axe to remove his head.

On his way to this battle the Duke spent some time in Taunton. Tauntonions welcomed him with open arms as the commoners of the time were mostly dissenters. They had previously held the town against Goring and 10,000 Royalists for which the town had been raised to the ground. While he was in the town he was presented with a naked sword, a bible and a woven banner by a miss Blake, Captain of the Virgins, who was a schoolmistress for girls known as the maids of Taunton. He swore to defend the truths contained in the book. The gentry of Taunton at this time stayed away from the Duke and the dissenters and were said to be afraid of a republic. The Dukes advisors, a Ferguson and Grey, convinced him that he should proclaim himself the real James 2nd. So on Saturday June 20th in Tauntons High Street, Market Cross at the bottom end, the Duke of Monmouth declared himself to be the true King of England. A bounty was put on his uncles head, James 2nd, and the Parliament was declared a seditious assembly or violent opposer.

From Taunton Monmouth moved on to Bridgwater with approximately 7000 men armed with pitchforks. Examples of these forks can be seen in the Castle museum in Taunton. On July 6th the Battle of Sedgemoor took place and on July 15th eight blows of an axe removed the Dukes head.