Berry Pomeroy Castle

Berry Pomeroy Castle stands in woodland above the Gatcombe Brook near Totnes, on the south-eastern edge of Devon just outside the Dartmoor National Park boundary. It was built in the late 15th century by the Pomeroy family, who had held the surrounding land since shortly after the Norman Conquest.

In 1547 the Pomeroys, in financial difficulty, sold the castle to Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector to the young Edward VI. Seymour was executed for treason in 1552 and his lands were forfeited to the Crown, but his son, also named Edward, recovered the castle in 1558. Between about 1560 and 1580 this second Edward Seymour demolished the older Pomeroy buildings inside the castle walls and built a new Tudor mansion in their place, later extended further on a grand scale by his own son around 1600.

The castle remained occupied until the death of Lady Anne Seymour in 1694, after which it was abandoned. The Seymour family, who had by then settled at Bradley House in Wiltshire, are thought to have stripped further materials from the ruin to help fund work there. By the 19th century the ruins had become a celebrated "romantic ruin," drawn and painted repeatedly by visiting artists, and the castle remains a popular visitor attraction today under the care of English Heritage.

Berry Pomeroy is also known for its ghost legends. The Blue Lady is said to appear at a tower window and lure visitors to their deaths, while the White Lady is said to be the ghost of Margaret Pomeroy, supposedly imprisoned and starved in the castle's dungeons out of jealousy by her sister Eleanor. These are traditional ghost stories, not historical fact, and the two tales are often blurred together in retellings.

Source: Wikipedia.

Photo: "Ruins of Berry Pomeroy Castle" by Partonez, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.