Located high on a rocky promontory overlooking Gatcombe Brook in wooded hills 2 miles NE of Totnes.
Only the imposing gatehouse, one tower and part of the curtain wall remain from the medieval slate castle built by the Pomeroy family, but the walls and some of the features of the fashionable Elizabethan limestone house of the Seymours remain within the original defensive walls.
A probable performance venue. Entertainers patronized by a member of the Pomery family in the late 15th c. and by Sir Edward Seymour in the later 16th c. performed elsewhere in Devon.
The property is still owned by the Seymour family but the ruins are maintained and managed by English Heritage. Open to the public at specified times.
1066 Manor granted with other Devon estates to Ralf de Pomeroy.
by 1293 The Pomeroy family resided in a manor house in the village of Berry Pomeroy next to the church.
1496 First recorded mention of the castle.
early 16th c. Remodelling by Sir Edward Pomeroy.
1547 Sir Thomas Pomeroy sold the castle to Edward Seymour, 5th Duke of Somerset.
1553 Castle granted to Sir Edward Seymour, son of the 5th Duke of Somerset by his first wife.
1560 Sir Edward began reconstruction of the domestic buildings with a fashionable renaissance house of 3 ranges around an inner courtyard inside the older defensive walls.
ca. 1600 Sir Edward's son Sir Edward, 1st Bart., built a new wing along the NW side with formal state rooms overlooking Gatcombe Valley. Plans to extend the landscaping and build another range of rooms on the W side later abandoned.
1688--1701 Site abandoned when the family relocated their principal residence to Maiden Bradley, Wiltshire.
1701 Castle described as ruinous and soon after stripped of building materials.
REED Devon 34, 162
| Name | Dates | Titles |
|---|---|---|
| Pomery, Henry | 1413-1487 | |
| Pomery, Richard | 1441-1496 | Knight |
| Seymour, Edward | 1529-1593 | Lord , Knight |
