Looking Back At History

Welcome to the first installation of Museums Worth Visiting - a blog series where I share with you museums around the UK that I think are worth visiting.   I recently took a trip to Powderham Castle located in the countryside near Exeter in Devon. The castle is unique in that it is not owned or looked after by your typical heritage organisations such as English Heritage or National Trust and instead is privately owned. Powderham Castle is owned by Courtenay family. The castle first came to be owned by the Courtenays when it came to them in the dowry of Maragaret du Bohun when she married Hugh de Courtenay, son of the first Courtenay Earl of Devon in 1325.  The castle has a fascinating and well-documented history which you can learn all about during a guided tour of the castle. All tour guides and staff that we met on our visit were incredibly friendly and knowledgeable. I found it really great that staff included their pronouns on their name badges - not something I hav...

  In an attempt to soak up some local history, I recently took a visit to Berry Pomeroy Castle , Devon. The castle stands on a spur above Gatcombe Valley and is set against a deep woodland.  The Pomeroys The first owner of the manor or Berry was Ralf de Pomaria who was a knight from La Pommeraye in Normandy, France. He was granted the manor, along with 56 others in Devon, by William the Conqueror. It is believed that this may have been a reward for his service at the siege of Exeter in 1068. According to the Domesday Book, compiled in 1086, the manor of 'Beri' was worth approximately £12 per year, which was a 1/3 more than the nearby Totnes Castle. The manor consisted of 78 households, meaning that it's population was approximately 400.  Ralf did not establish a castle here. However, a parish church was established along with a manor house beside it that would become the main residence for his family for the next 400 years. In 1207 Henry Pomeroy formed a deer park on the ...