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1066 -1068 William Duke of Normandy, William the Conqueror & king of England put lands under the control of Normans he trusted, supplanting the previous tenants, who were Anglo-Saxons & the Church, bishops and abbots.
His Normans became Tenants in Chief' ensuring that enough men at arms were available to King William who it is thought could ,in times of crisis, call upon the services of 5000 knights to serve in his army.
Berry Pomeroy castle is located about a mile north-east of the village of Berry Pomeroy, about 6 miles from Totnes in the Hundred of Kerswell .
It lies on a wooded north-facing slope overlooking a deep, narrow, limestone gorge with a mill & nearby, a barton farm.
For 4 centuries the Barons Pomeroy apparently chose to live at the unfortified but substantial manor house next to the village church with, just a mile away, a hunting lodge within an enclosed deer park with a gatehouse.
The mill ar Beri - Smallbrook Mill on Gatcombe Stream
in the valley below the castle
The Pomeroy family owned the manor of ‘Beri’ for over 400 years before they built a castle. The manor & the parish was granted with others manors , to the Norman knight Ranulph de la Pomeroy by William the Conqueror in 1066 who is recorded as being seized of the honour & manor of Berry Pomeroy.
A walled deer park was created in 1207 by the 2nd of 9 successive Henry Pomeroy's ; a gatehouse was added , although AJP is of the opinion that this may have been a lot more modest than the current monolith. It may well have been 'improved ' when the actual castle building happened in the C15th. The gatehouse is recorded as C13th & still has remnants of very late 15th-century wall-painting within it.
When in the C15th, Sir Henry Pomeroy & his wealthy wife Alice Ralegh, or possibly his 2nd wife Anna Camell who was ever richer, although her wealth was independent of any of her 3 her husbands, decided to build a castle . It was begun sometime in the mid 1470's & it seems to have been completed by the time Henry Tudor took the throne in 1485. At which time the village church was also restored & enlarged.
The earliest documentary reference to a castle on the site is in 1496 in the accounting of the Pomeroy property after the death of Sir Richard.
The Castle & the Estates of Berry Pomeroy were sold by Sir Thomas in 1547 around the time of the death of Henry VIII (1509 - 1547) It was bought by the self promoted Lord Protector, Edward Seymour , Earl of Somerset, brother in Law it Henry VIII whose family later built the house within the castle walls in the time of Elizabeth I (1558 -1603) The Earls of Somerset still own the castle, the village & the parish.
Berry Pomeroy castle is thought to be one of the last privately built castles in England and was particularly defensive, apparently intended to repel an attack using artillery. The corner towers and gatehouse all have gun-ports at basement level giving a continuous line of fire along the defensive dry moat.
Building a castle was expensive and the Baron accrued considerable debts, then a hefty mortgage .
At least two of the barons Pomeroy must have used up the dowry which their wives brought to the marriage. Sir Henry's 1st wife Alice Ralegh & 2nd wife of Anna Camell, (Sir Henry died in 1487 ), followed by the 2nd heir , Sir Richard ( d 1496) & his 2nd wife, Lady Elizabeth Densill. These were all extremely wealthy widowed ladies with handsome dowries.
By 1547 the debt was unsustainable and, no doubt with some 'encouragement' from the recently elevated, & self appointed, Duke of Somerset ,Edward Seymour, Lord Protector of England persuaded the last Baron Pomeroy , Sir Thomas , to sell the castle, the estates and all the lands for the sum of £4,000. They had owned the castle for less than 100 years and by selling the barony the Baronial Pomeroys became mere land owning gentry.
More about the castle here- English Heritage
Berry Pomeroy village Conservation Area PDF can be found here
An example of a Norman Hall House
Until the1990's the assumption was that Berry Pomeroy was a Norman castle. However archeology has now shown that , apart from the gate house and the curtain wall, the castle was built on new ground.
The inner Elizabethan House is later than the Pomeroy family & built by the Seymours who bought the estate 1547.
The Pomeroy residence seems to have began as a hunting lodge which was developed over time into a Hall House , with an upper inner chamber for the Lord of the Manor, & sitting within the enclosed deer park.
The site is certainly a beautiful one with a wide vista looking across the lush landscape of fields, woodlands and hills ... as you can see above ....the remains of the castle are now hidden in the trees .
The first time a castle is mentioned is in 1496 when Sir Richard Pomeroy died .
The document mentions two residences, the castle and a separate manor house belonging to the Pomeroys.
The first time a castle is mentioned is in 1496 when Sir Richard Pomeroy died .
The document mentions two residences, the castle and a separate manor house belonging to the Pomeroys.
On 24 August 1496 he is recorded as being seized of the honour and castle & manor of Bury Pomeroy worth £133 6s 10d, a moiety of Harberton and a messuage; 40 acres land, 10 acres of meadow worth 45s; a moiety of the manor of Brixham worth £14 6s 6d; the manor of Bridgetown Pomeroy worth £24.4s.5d; a messuage with 20 acres of land 7 acres of meadow and 10 acres of underwood in Sandridge (Stoke Gabriel) held by the Bishop of Exeter; 3 messuages with 40 acres of land 1 acre of meadow ay Wylle in Sandridge, worth 32s all tenure by knights fee. His income was therefore around £175 a year – a considerable sum in the C15th equivalent to more than £16,550.00 today.
Widow Elizabeth had the income from all the lands except Bury Pomeroy and Harberton ( that went to the still under age son & heir Edward . Before the end of that year she received in dower 1/3 of the honour of Bury Pomeroy castle and apparently the use of rooms therein. She had use of a great chamber beyond the castle gate with the cellar on the left of the gate, two chambers associated with said great chamber, a kitchen, a larder and another room close to the kitchen.
She also had 1/3 of a messuages in the manor of Bury ; a pantry and buttery all the chambers beyond and under the buttery up to the chamber called the ‘Stuerdischamber’ a moity or share of the bakehouse, brudhouses ( breadhouse or possibly brewhouse) kytchen and lardehouse (storage larder?) a stable for horses with a loft over an barn , Barle Barne ( Barley Barn) and a house called KyrtelybarneWidow Elizabeth also had a third of the lands of the manor of Bury some meadows , herbage of a wood ,a common and a mill, a few cottages ,various rents and a third of the park of Bury with its deer.
She also had 1/3 of lands and tenements of the barton ( home farm) of Bury manor with lands , closes, called Canell Parke. Mokeswode, Mokeswood) Penpark Brodemoor, Southslade, and a garden called Maderhay Kyrtelshay, with a new garden called ‘a erber yn the Lyghtherne’ an arbor in the lightherne - thus far I have not discovered the meaning of lyththerne the only word Ive found is OE -hyme - meaning corner
She also had a 1/3 share of Harberton manor with 30 acres of land and a 1/3 part of all the services and rents
BRITANNICA WRITES
" The manor house was the centre of secular village life, and its great hall was the scene of the manorial court and the place of assembly of the tenantry. The particular character of the manor house is most clearly represented in England and France, but under different names similar dwellings of feudal overlords existed in all countries wherein the manorial system developed.
In England in the 11th century the manor house was an informal group of related timber or stone buildings consisting of the hall, chapel, kitchen, and farm buildings contained within a defensive wall and ditch. In the 12th century the hall, which throughout the medieval period was the major element of domestic architecture, was placed defensively at first-floor level and contained within a moated enclosure.
....Oakham Castle, Rutland, within a more strongly defended enclosure.
By the 14th century the manor-house plan was clearly defined, with private living apartments and service rooms at opposite ends of the great hall and with battlements, gatehouse, and moat—as at Ightham Mote, Kent. Ockwells Manor in Berkshire is a typical timber-framed manor house built in the 15th century without defensive elements."
Early Beri Manor is described as a hall house with a chamber- sounding very modest and unlike a Baronial residence
To accommadate Baron Ranulf & his wife & family & his 2 sons & his family of William & his wife & 6 sons plus a few daughters that are unrecorded. as well as servants, including others such as the baron's right hand man ??
Ranulph came to the notice of William Duke of Normandy & Conqueror of England. who gave him a Feudal Barony with 60 manors in Devon.
AJP's has attempted to visualise what Beri might have looked like during the 12th -14th century
Berry Pomeroy Church,
below Ingham Mote the most complete small medieval manor house in the country
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