26 July Berry Pomeroy Castle and Totnes Castle
I knew today was going to be a rainy one, so I got up early and tried to see three castles in one day. I got two of them in before it got wet.
The First was Berry Pomeroy Castle in Devon. It was originally built by the Pomeroys, and then gifted to the Seymours (Earls of Somerset) in the early 1500’s. The genealogy link that I thought I had was Catherine Filliol, who was the wife of Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Somerset. She died after having two boys, named Edward and John. The Earl Edward Seymour was executed in the Tower of London in 1552, and his oldest son, John, died there 11 months afterwards, leaving behind no children.
My lineage goes through a John Seymour, but the dates of birth and death weren’t matching up, and the first John never had any children before he died. I finally figured out that my ancestor, John Seymour, was not related to the Earls of Somerset, and further research shows that nobody (to date) has figured out who his parents were. He was also from Wiltshire, not Devon or Somerset. This fixed a mistake in my research, and lost me about 200 ancestors, who I thought I was related to, but wasn’t. Oh well, that’s what this trip was for, to figure out stuff like this.
Berry Pomeroy Castle is mostly ruins, and also reported to be one of the most Haunted castles in England. I felt the presence of something in the dungeon where Margaret Pomeroy was starved to death, but never saw anything. The chill bumps up and down my back were real. It was a really nice castle tour, and the place must’ve been something back in the day, but it is pretty isolated nowhere near any civilization.
The next place I went was the town of Totnes in Devon. This was a really cool town with lots of nice shops lining the road up to the old Motte and Bailey castle (ruins again). The town is littered with book stores and bake shops, and the smell of the food was awesome. On the way back, I grabbed a Steak and Stilton Pasty and some Cornish Pudding (trumped up bread Pudding with Blackberries and white chocolate chips). I had to fight really hard to keep from eating all of the pudding. I wanted to save some for my evening meal dessert.
Totnes castle was built well before the Normans arrived in Britain, but was made of timber. The Normans fortified it, and built the stone keep at the top of the hill (the highest point in the city). In King John’s time, he gifted the castle to my ancestors, the De Braose family, and eventually it was passed along to more relatives of mine, the Cantilupe family. The surnames associated with Totnes in my family tree are Blackwell, Chapin, De Vere, George, Urdde, and Valletort. I had a good time talking to the two English Heritage Trust employees at the castle. They were very attentive, and loved hearing how an American had come all this way to research his family from 700 years before. It’s sometimes fun to speak to a captive audience!
