Castle timeline

BRICTRIC (BEORHTRIC)

Brictric was a Saxon Thegn (Thane), an aristocrat of the House of Wessex, and cousin of King Edward the Confessor – he was a powerful landowner and had a large royal estate at Great Torrington, which was a busy town in this period. Brictric wouldn’t have had a castle in the town, but he would have built a Hall, a large timber post-and-aisle building which would have been the administrative centre of the estate, within an embanked enclosure, with a palisade fence. It may have been similarly located on the high point above the town and valley. A thegn was an aristocrat who ranked at the third level in lay society, below the King and Ealdormen (Anglo-Saxon Earls).

ODO FITZ GAMELIN

Odo was a Norman lord who fought at the Battle of Hastings and was gifted a vast number of manors and estates by William the Conqueror for his service. Odo married the daughter of another powerful Lord and the two families combined their holdings, of about 51 manors. This new estate was centred on Great Torrington, which became the caput (administrative centre) of this region – forming the Feudal Barony of Toriton. Odo built the first fortifications at the site – a new type of castle, known as the motte and bailey. This first castle was timber-framed, with earthen banks and wooden palisade fences.

THE FEUDAL BARONS OF TORITON

Odo’s family eventually adopted the surname De Toriton and his descendants dominated the region from 1090 until the middle of the 13th century. The family played a key role in the early civil war, known as the Anarchy in North Devon. William Fitz Odo, supported Queen Matilda at first and in October 1139, the castle at Great Torrington was burnt to the ground in a night raid, by soldiers sent by the Baron of Barnstaple, Henry de Tracey, a bitter rival of William, the Baron of Torrington and a supporter of King Stephen. The castle was set on re by aiming arrows being red through the windows of the tower-keep.

JOHN FITZROBERT DE TORINTON

The Toriton Barons, renamed the family to the more ‘anglicised’ version, de Torinton in the 12th century, trying to establish themselves and moving away from their Norman ‘invader’ identity. In the reign of Richard the Lionheart - John FitzRobert, Baron de Torinton became influential at the royal court. He was made Sheriff of Cornwall in 1198 and comptroller of Carmarthen and Pembroke castles in 1199. It is likely at this point that Great Torrington castle was first considerably expanded into two baileys and rebuilt in stone for the first time.

WILLIAM DE TORINTON

Baron William de Torinton fought in First Barons War (1215-1217) against King John, in defence of the Magna Carta treaty, giving rights to the ‘free men of England’. When Henry III came to the throne, after his John’s death, he was a child, but his court advisers sought revenge against the baronial families. An act of ‘attainder’ was brought against William, for treason, for his role in the uprising, and his estates were removed – although it appears he wasn’t executed.

MATTHEW DE TORINTON

Matthew de Torinton was the last Baron, in the main familial line. He sued for William’s estates and title to be returned to the family, after his death in 1224 and paid a huge ne, almost £100,000 in today’s money. He was successful and Matthew became Baron of Torrington until his death c.1226.

Matthew had no heir, so the estate was divided up between his sisters. The complex probate investigations by the crown, between 1226-1228 likely found out that William had significantly refortified and ‘crenelated’ the castle, without permission, during the earlier war. The crown rigorously controlled the rights of Barons to further fortify their castles, for fear of loosing control of a region – Great Torrington became an ‘adulterine’ or illegal castle, and a decree was announced by the king, that it was to be torn down. 200 men were sent with the Sheriff of Devon to destroy the castle.

THE DE MERTON FAMILY AND THE NEW CASTLE

Sir Richard de Merton applies for a series of licences to crenelate between 1328-1347. Richard was a descendant of Emma de Torinton, sister of the last Baron, Matthew. His line of the family had inherited or bought-back much of the old estate and consolidated the land again into one estate. Whilst a stone keep may have been built on the motte mound, for defence, within the newly laid out bailey the buildings would have much more modern, described in 1360, as a manserii mansorum, or manor house. The castle is also described as having stables, a garrison, hall, kitchens, chapel and ‘grange’ or associated farmstead.

THE REVIVED BARONY

In 1386 the Barony of Great Torrington was revived by Richard II. It was granted to Sir John Cary between 1386-1388, who was a distant relative of Odo Fitz Gamelin. In 1388 Richard II’s younger half-brother John Holland was made Baron of Great Torrington, later Duke of Exeter. He was attained and executed in 1400. The Barony was granted ‘in trust’ to Sir Robert Chalons, who was guardian of John Holland’s infant son.

Henry Holland became Baron of Great Torrington in 1423 and in 1443 also became Duke of Exeter, he was then murdered in 1457. The Barony goes into abeyance again at his death, as he had no heirs. The site of the castle was likely left empty, or with only a small garrison, for much of this period, as it was no longer the main seat of a noble’s estate.

MARGARET BEAUFORT

After the Battle of Bosworth Field and the defeat of Richard III, the new king, Henry VII granted his mother the manor of Great Torrington in 1485. This was part of a return of her family’s properties, (Margaret’s grandmother was part of the Holland family) and made her one of the largest landowners in England. Seeking peace after the turbulent wars, she came down to live in town for a while, in the new moated manor house.

Margaret sets up a school at the abandoned castle site and appoints a new priest to the Chapel of St James in 1488. Margaret gifted the town a portion of her treasured collection of books and had a small library built on the side of the church, c.1490.

THREAT OF ARMADA

In the 1580s during the reign of Elizabeth I, the Spanish were expected to invade England, with a vast army carried across sea on naval vessels, known as the Spanish Armada. Whilst there was a standing professional army, every region called up locals to volunteer to form a militia. Lord Burghley, one of Elizabeth’s senior advisors had surveys undertaken of the coast and rivers around England and marked on former castles, forts and defensive sites which could be reused – the castle here was marked as a ‘fort’. In Great Torrington, the parish church of St Michael was used to store the militias weapons, suggesting there weren’t many usable or secure buildings left on the castle site at this time, but an open area, probably the fortified bailey was used as a muster-point.

THE BATTLE OF TORRINGTON 1646

During the English Civil War and besiegement of the town, the royalist general Sir Ralph Hopton examined the castle and rejected it as no longer having a good defensive use for his artillery. However, the ‘castle green’, the old west bailey, by then the farm site, was used as the camp, for Prince Rupert’s cavalry soldiers and their horses. These men made their last stand at the castle site and top of the road down to Taddiport bridge, allowing the rest of the defeated army to retreat down Mill Street, as best they could, after the battle had been won by Parliamentary forces. The castle site was then possibly used a prison after the battle for captured soldiers and there are reports that some Royalists were executed by ring squad. After the battle and surrender, it is likely the last structures at the castle were completely destroyed, the earthworks and tumbled walls left to utter ruin.

19TH CENTURY BLUECOAT SCHOOL

The west bailey was converted into a more open sort of park; terraces and paths were cut into the banks and apple trees planted, the site acquiring the name Barley Grove, a corruption of the original ‘bailey’ name. This process of the gentrification of this area of the commons, now known as Castle Hill, continued into the 19th century, with new paths, benches and seats, lime trees planted along the embankment and a new obelisk added, dedicated to the victory at Waterloo. Some structures survived on the mound but were rebuilt and altered to create a folly-tower for the new parkland. The castle school used the forecourt buildings (an outer courtyard between the castle and castle street) including one of the old gatehouses, this was -remodelled in the 1780s and again, c.1850, funded by Lord Rolle, becoming the Bluecoat School. This building still stands adjacent to the castle today, seen over the wall to your left - the old playground is c.4m down in the old castle ditch.

20TH CENTURY DESTRUCTION

In 1978-1982 the castle site was surveyed as a suitable location for a new car park. The ditches were in lled and the mound partly pulled down, any ruins cleared and paths carved into the side of the earthworks. The west bailey was tarmacked over. The castle was ‘lost’ culturally to the town for decades, surviving only in the name of Castle Street and the area of the commons.

20TH AND 21ST CENTURY EXCAVATIONS

In 1987 there was a small, targeted excavation prior to extension of the bowling green pavilion. This revealed part of the Norman rampart and several stone buildings under the bowling green. In 2005 during groundworks to the north and south of Great Torrington Bowling Club Pavilion when altering the paths hundred of sherd of medieval pottery were found. In 2023 – present; the award-wining community archaeology project Dig the Castle has been researching and excavating at the castle site, seeking to re-tell the full story of this fascinating castle, the town and its people.

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