| The Pomeroy family, originally from France, came to
Devon at the time of the Norman Conquest. By 1268 they had founded
a borough called Bridgetown on their land bordering the River Dart,
opposite Totnes. Records show that Henry Pomeroy paid 10 marks to
enclose a deer park at Berry Pomeroy in 1207 and that the Pomeroys
occupied a manor house in the village of Berry Pomeroy from at least
the thirteenth century.
Berry Pomeroy Castle was built within the deer park on a rocky
promontory overlooking the Gatcombe Brook. It is surrounded on three
sides by steep slopes, but was vulnerable to attack from the south
where the ground rises to a high ridge. On this side the Pomeroys
dug into the rock to form a defensive ditch. The ditch has since
been infilled, but traces of it survive towards the east.
The precise date when the castle was constructed is not recorded.
The first written reference appears in a document dating from 1496,
when a third of the castle was assigned to the widow of Richard
Pomeroy.
In 1547 Thomas Pomeroy, who had fallen into deep financial problems,
was forced to sell the castle, the manor and other nearby properties
to Edward Seymour.
Edward Seymour was one of the most powerful and wealthy men in
England who, over the years, acquired many titles and offices, including
Viscount Beauchamp (1536), Earl of Hertford (1537), and first Duke
of Somerset (1547). During the first two years of Edward VI's reign
he acted as High Steward of England, Treasurer of the Exchequer,
and Earl Marshall and Protector of the Realm. But he also acquired
political enemies who overthrew him as Protector in 1549 and eventually
saw him beheaded in 1552.
In 1553 Edward's oldest surviving son by his first marriage, Sir
Edward Seymour, acquired Berry Pomeroy, and soon after made it his
home. In about 1560 he began to replace the Pomeroy domestic buildings
with a new house built in a more fashionable style for the period.
This was a tall, compact country house with three wings or ranges
around an inner courtyard. This house was built entirely within
the old castle defences, which were left standing, and occupied
the eastern half of the site. Edward was made Sheriff of Devon in
1583, and in 1588 was appointed by Queen Elizabeth to raise troops
to defend the Devon shores from the Spanish.
Edward died in 1593 and the estate passed to his eldest son, another
Edward. He had already been Sheriff of Devon (c.1583) and was made
Vice-Admiral of Cornwall in 1586. He was MP for Devon from 1590
until 1611, and again Sheriff in 1595 and 1605. He embarked on an
ambitious building programme to enlarge and improve the house at
Berry Pomeroy Castle. A new wing containing state rooms was built
along the north west side of the site, extending beyond the limits
of the old defences. This new range looked across the Gatcombe Valley
instead of inwards, and contained a parlour, a great chamber and
a great hall with a fashionable, classical style loggia (covered
walkway) placed in front of its main entrance. At the west end was
a tall kitchen with spacious lodgings above. The top floor was occupied
by a long gallery which stretched for 207ft (63m).
Terraces were begun at both ends of this range and another was
planned on its north west side, but these terraces were abandoned
before completion. Another range of rooms was planned to extend
over the infilled moat along the west side of the site, but this
was never started.
The site was abandoned some time between 1688 and 1701, and the
buildings were shortly afterwards stripped of valuable building
materials. The Seymour family moved from their unfinished grand
house to a more up-to-date country house which they had built on
another of their properties at Maiden Bradley in Wiltshire.
This information came from the English Heritage guide to Berry
Pomeroy Castle.
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