Ghosts & Ghouls
& things that go bump in the night..
The Castle of Berry Pomeroy is reputed to be haunted . The gatehouse and curtain wall are 13th century and the bulk of the castle was built in the 15th C during the Cousins War - The Wars of the Roses
One such spirit is said to be Margaret Pomeroy, who was supposedly imprisoned in the dungeons by her sister Eleanor who was jealous of both her beauty and her affections for the man Eleanor had designs upon. The legend tells that Margaret slowly starved in the dungeons, a long drawn out and painful death.
Whether she is the source of the feeling of unease and horror some people experience at the castle is unknown.
The Blue Lady is not confined to specific areas of the castle and is supposed to lure people into parts of the ruin.
Traditionally she is seen as the ghost of the daughter of one of the Norman Lords of the castle, raped by her father, who then strangled the resulting child in one of the upper rooms. - in a castle that was not built until 300 years later.
Archaeology has revealed, that Berry Pomeroy Castle, was not built until the 15th century and was finished about 148o. It was sold out of the family by 1547. Having been built by the Pomeroy family it remained in their possession for less than 100 years . There was a Norman Hall House there and a gatehouse but not a full grown castle with dungeons .
Mention has been made of 1600- However by 1547 the castle at Berry Pomeroy estates were no longer in the Pomeroy family hands. In 1547, along with the barony which the family had held since 1066, over 500 years, Berry Pomeroy castle and estates were sold by the extravagant and foolish Sir Thomas Pomeroy to Sir Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, brother of Henry VIII queen Jane Seymour and Lord Protector for 5 years when little king Edward VI was on the English throne. Then Edward Seymour had his head removed for treason in 1552.
Berry Pomeroy and Sir Thomas 1547-
The only Eleanor recorded in the family tree was daughter of Sir Henry of Tregony whose wife was wife Elizabeth Bonython - living circa 1600 at Tregony Castle in Cornwall and therefore not living at Berry Pomeroy Castle because it had been sold to Edward Seymour Duke of Somerset in 1547.
There was a Margaret Pomeroy who married Sir John Cole in the 14th C ( he died in 1420) Her sister was Johanna who married Sir James Chudleigh - their daughter Johanna Chudleigh married 3 times .Ist to Sir John ST Aubyn by whom she had a son John Sy Aubyn; 2ndly in 1386 to Sir Phillip de Byan who died a year later and finally, and hurriedly , in the aisle of the church in Berry Pomeroy without licence from the king in 1388 t she married Thomas Pomeroy Esq son of Robert of the cadet line in Smallridge & Buckerell in east Devon. The Vicarwas fined and he was reprimanded but in 1400 the king knighted Thomas ; they had a daughter Isabella and there has been mention of a ghostly child named Isabelle and there is an Isabella in the family records - Isabella died after her mother Joanna , 8 Dec 1423 , but before her father who died 10 March 1426.
Other Pomeroys There was a Margaret and Elizabeth daughters of Sir Thomas Pomeroy of Bowden Manor near Totnes dates around 1478 to 1500 He was married to Agnes Kelloway and they had 7 children but did not live at the Berry Pomeroy castle as far as we know; neither did the younger brother Richard Pomeroy Esq, a Totnes Merchant & man of influence whose 1st wife was Eleanor Coker.
The records are notoriously incomplete - who knows what might lurk in the archive?
Tregony Castle imagined AJP 2023
Joanna Chudleigh was a co-heir to the Pomeroy estates with John Cole, son of her sister Margaret. These men, John Cole & Thomas Pomeroy & his older brother William are said to have harassed Sir Edward & his wife Lady Margaret, the legitimate holders of the title, with numerous law suits. It is recorded that they with a small army of soldiers invaded Tregony Castle locked up lady Margaret with out food or water for two days & defenistrated Sir Edward by throwing him out of a window of the castle. Nothing remains of the castle other that the outline of the castle mound in the streets of the town .
Various websites claim the Pomeroy estates were forfeited. This is incorrect. The Castle was NOT forfeited – the property was SOLD in 1547 by the possibly foolish and extravagant Sir Thomas Pomeroy, son of Sir Edward and Johanna Sapcot to deal with £4,000 of debts probably accumulated during the building of the castle begun by his great grandfather Sir Henry, completed by Sir Richard around 1480 .
Other properties owned by the Pomeroys, possibly those in East Devon, Stockleigh Pomeroy & others, may have been forfeited in 1549 as a consequence of the same Thomas participating in the Prayerbook Rebellion of 1549.
It seems doubtful the the 'ghost' is a Seymour.
Seymours
The First Seymour Baronet of Berry Pomeroy was Edward oldest son of Edward 1st Duke of Somerset who mother had an affair her father in law the result of which was the 2 sons of her marriage to Edward were made illegitimate by the annulment of the marriage. His son Edward the 2nd baronet was give the Barony of Berry Pomeroy. His wife was Margaret Walshe and they had a son, another Edward Seymour, the 2nd Baronet who at the age of 13 having been betrothed for about ten years, was married
on 19 September 1576, to Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Arthur Champernowne of nearby Dartington Hall. They had 5 sons and 4 daughters none of whom were called Eleanor or Margaret. Their eldest son yet another Sir Edward Seymour 3rd Baronet had 7 children including a daughter Margaret.........