HALLS & HOUSES

Norman and Medieval
  Berry Pomeroy as shown on the castle website by English Heritage
The castle, the ruins of which we see today, was built in the 15th century  bu before  the C15th there was no castle at Berry Pomeroy.
 A 1292 survey reveals that  Beri Pomeroy manor was described  as having a Hall with Chambers and a Grange.   (Edw Powley)

The buildingof the castle in the 1400's  may well have been prompted by French raids along the south coast in that time.

For centuries Pirates had raided along the coast but Berry Pomeroy was hidden away several miles inland.  Then in 1404 one raid by the French happened when they landed at Blackpool Sands just south of Dartmouth.   They were repelled but a French nobleman being killed and some of his knights taken captive.  

Following these attacks in the C15th  fortifications were increased at Kingswear & Dartmouth at the mouth of the Dart river, at Totnes where additional fortifications were undertaken ; at the  home of the  younger branch of the Courtenay family at Powderham on the Exe estuary;  additional fortifications were also made on the castles at Plymouth and Trematon on the Tamar estuary.

These  French raids are most likely what prompted the Pomeroys to build a castle at their manor of Bury Pomeroy and archaeology has revealed that it was built on a previously unused site

What was there before that & where did the Barons Pomeroy Live.?

A document of 1292 tells us  that at Berry Pomeroy there was  a Hall with Chambers, a grange farm providing for the Manor House,  as well as a walled deer park. 

Over the generations additions would probably have been made but in the 12th & 13th century what did the Manor House of the Barons Pomeroy look like?

It could have begun looking like any of these, since there is no archaeology there is little way to discover which one was the most likely.


The  hall House was a large, long,  open room where the Lord and Lady and their household and guests dined, met, held court, metered out local justice and generally had all the important social functions of the household. This would have later been replaced with a more modern manor house. 

There was a chamber called the Solar, an upstairs room , where the Lord and Lady actually lived, and slept. There would have been a small chapel where the Lord and Lady heard mass. The Garderobe was both the privy (toilet) and a place to keep clothes. The fumes from urine kept moths away from fine linens.  From this where comes the English word “wardrobe.”  

The Manor Hall would have been situated amongst the fields and farm of the Manor and the many smaller dwellings used by peasants would have been around it. There might also have been a village church nearby.

Medieval interiors were much more sumptuous than you  might  suppose. Typically, bare stone rarely showed , the walls were often covered with lime plaster and painted, with designs.  Sometimes flowers or vines were painted onto the walls, possibly reflecting their original home in Normandy or pictures with a religious message such as those found at the much later Berry Pomeroy Castle. 


 Over time the Hall houses  grew additions , which turned a simple hall house into small Fortified Manor with external kitchens, a Gatehouse & Watchtower . Castellations required a licence from the Crown & were a sign of status & royal favour in some cases  

Given that there is Margaret's Tower at Berry Pomeroy and a gatehouse to be considerably earlier than  the rest , we can assume that  the illustration  above  might describes how Berry Pomeroy looked later ; the illustration includes the buildings made by the Seymours after 1547.

Certainly Berry Pomeroy never  resembled  Stokesay , a particularly magnificent gem of a Fortified Manor
 Stokesay fortified Manor,  Stokesay Castle in Shropshire  
built in the late 13th century by Laurence of Ludlow, a leading & very wealthy, wool merchant .
This  wonderful example of a fortified manor might  be similar to the original hall at Berry Pomeroy,
with its gatehouse & Tower. 


'The importance of Stokesay lies in its having been built not by a baron but by a merchant –

one of the earliest known examples of a successful merchant setting himself up as a country gentleman.'

' I thank the Lord and ever will

'tis the wool hath paid for all '


From the air the manor the layout is clear with the lovely timbered gatehouse to the east seen at the top of the image and to the west the Hall, with its jettied chambers above .

The watch tower looks towards the point of most danger the Welsh border.


Fiddleford /Fittleford  was the home of one of the wives of a Pomeroy Anna Camell  was  2nd daughter of Robert Camell, a gentleman. Her 1st husband was Henry Barrett by whom she had Johanna Barrett who married William Kellaway. Her granddaughter was Agnes Kelloway who married Thomas Pomeroy son of Anna's 3rd husband .
IPM  Inquisition Post Mortem of WILLIAM CAMMELL [wife, Elizabeth]   held 14 Nov, 22 Hen VII (1506) 

Long before his death William Cammell was seised in fee of the manor & advowson of WEST PERLEY and of the manor of FYTYLFFORD/Fiddleford & messuages therein ….

Fiddleford  is an example of a small Manor House and home of the Camell family a Hall Manor house in Wiltshire.

Above -   the Hall at Fiddleford Manor


Below the solar with the painted panels at Fiddleford 

 Kirkham Manor in Paignton  seen here - 

The house now contains furniture, illustrating traditional craftsmanship and the original use of the rooms.

'This well-preserved late medieval house  probably belonged to a well-to-do landowning or merchant family. In the  grand hall  up to 20 people would dine  together. 

A Solar  illustrated by Victor Ambrus from Time Team