Berry Pomeroy Castle

The ruins of Berry Pomeroy Castle comprise the remains of a medieval castle and the foundations of a substantial Elizabethan house built within the castle walls. The site is situated on a wooded hill with a steep drop to the north and a dried moat to the south. The castle’s gatehouse, dating to circa 1300, is at the south end and features a round-arched gateway flanked by large, semi-hexagonal towers connected by a flattened arch machicolation supported on corbels. Above the gateway, in the guardroom, is a 16th-century arcade with octagonal piers and chamfered arches. The curtain walls remain, connecting to St Margaret's Tower on the east corner, which projects with a semicircular outer wall. Crenellation is no longer visible.

The Seymour house and associated offices within the castle walls were constructed between approximately 1575 and 1593. Built of coursed stone with freestone dressings, the Seymour house is arranged around a small courtyard. The north-east front has a symmetrical design of three storeys and five bays, with a central doorway and stone mullion four-light windows with hood moulds. The principal windows on the first floor are taller, incorporating transoms. The outer, north-east facing wall is punctuated by mullioned windows, and the east corner is crenellated. Remains of the kitchen survive to the west of the enclosure, representing the last standing portion of the north range of the Seymour house. A group of tall, now freestanding, piers on the north side are likely the remnants of the north wing, perhaps the hall, of the Seymour house.

Berry Pomeroy was acquired by Ralf de la Pomerai in 1066. Although a manor house likely existed earlier, there is no evidence of a castle on the site before circa 1300, when the de la Pomerais constructed the fortified castle. In 1548, Sir Thomas Pomeroy sold the castle to the Lord Protector Somerset, whose son, Sir Edward Seymour, built the mansion within the walls, occupying it from 1575 to 1593. Edward Seymour (died 1613), Sir Edward's son, also contributed to the building work. Sir Edward Seymour (1633-1708) moved to Maiden Bradley in Wiltshire, and Berry Pomeroy Castle was abandoned and fell into ruin by the early 18th century. The site is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument.