Berry Pomeroy Castle

SX 86 SW BERRY POMEROY

5/1 Berry Pomeroy Castle

9.2.61

• I

Ruins of medieval castle with ruins of large Elizabethan house within the walls. Situated on a wooded hill with a steep bluff to the north and a dried moat to the south. Circa 1300 gatehouse, remains of the curtain walls and St Margaret's Tower on the east corner. The Seymour house and offices within the walls to the east were built c.1575 to 1593. Coursed stone with freestone dressings. The gatehouse to the south has a round-arched gateway flanked by large semi-hexagonal towers connected by a flattened arch machicolation on corbels. Above the gateway in the guardroom is a C16 arcade with octagonal piers and chamfered arches. Curtain walls connected to the St Margaret's Tower to east which projects with a semicircular outer wall. Nothing survives of the Crenellation. The group of tall, now freestanding, piers on the north side are probably the remains of the north wing (perhaps the hall) of the Seymour house which is situated on the north east side of the enceinte. The Seymour house, built around a small court, has a symmetrical three-storey, five-bay front with a central doorway and stone mullion four-light windows with hoodmoulds. The principal windows on the first floor are taller with transoms. The outer, north- east, facing wall has mullioned windows and the east corner is crenellated. To the west of the enclosure are the remains of the kitchen, which is all that survives of the north range of the Seymour house.

Berry Pomeroy was acquired by Ralf de la Pomerai in 1066. There is no evidence of a castle here before c.1300, although a Crown survey of 1292 recorded a manor house. In c.1300 the de la Pomerais built the existing fortified castle and in 1548 Sir Thomas Pomeroy sold it to the Lord Protector Somerset whose son, Sir Edward Seymour, built a great mansion within the walls and lived there from 1575 to 1593. Sir Edward Seymour's son, Edward (died 1613) was also responsible for some of the building. Sir Edward Seymour (1633-1708) moved to Maiden Bradley in Wiltshire and Berry Pomeroy Castle was abandoned and in ruins by early C18. It is now Scheduled Ancient Monument.

References: Country Life, vol 90, page 1122. John Price "The Worthies of Devon", first published, 1701.

Listing NGR: SX8390562298