3 August 2023 Dunster Castle in Somerset

Today was a beautiful day, and I didn’t get rained out of seeing what I wanted to see. It was an hour and a half from Barnstaple to Dunster, and I got to go by a local golf course and pick up some swag for my golf buddies back home. Dunster is a small village with a castle, a church, a water mill, a butter cross, and a yarn market building in the center of town. It also has a tower on an adjacent hill from the castle that it a pretty good hike to get up to.




It rained pretty good on the drive up here, and it sprinkled a little bit this afternoon, but otherwise, it was a perfect day for visiting castles and churches. Dunster castle is the ancestral home of the Luttrell Family, but before that, it was given to William de Mohun (Pronounced Mo-en). William de Mohun was one of the Norman knights that fought along-side William the Conqueror in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings, and as a reward, he was granted Dunster castle. The castle stayed in the hands of the de Mohun’s until 1376, when Joan de Mohun sold it to the Luttrell family. The Luttrell’s really turned the castle into what it is today, a beautiful piece of work situated on a hill overlooking the town of Dunster.








I found a family tree of the Luttrell’s while I was visiting the castle, and spoke with a couple of the volunteers who had extensive knowledge of the history of the Luttrell family. Catherine Beaumont, the daughter of one of my ancestors, married into the Luttrell family, as did Elizabeth Courtenay.  I am a direct descendant of both Catherine and Elizabeth’s fathers. One of the things that my genealogy software can do is calculate the relationship I have with anybody in my family tree. I have done this with Catherine and Elizabeth, just to demonstrate the connection.














After the castle, I visited St George’s Church in Dunster, where Catherine Beaumont Luttrell is buried with her husband, Sir Hugh Luttrell. This was another magnificent, historical church, with a lot of character. Poor Hugh’s effigy is a little beaten up, but there they are, just as they were in the early 1400’s when they were laid to rest.










The rest of the day was spent wandering the main street in Dunster checking out all of the nice shops before I checked in to my hotel. While walking the town, I decided to try and find a trail that led to the top of the adjacent hill with Conygar Tower perched at its apex. One of the Luttrell’s decided to build the tower on the hill that was surrounded by beautiful woods, not as a military fortification or a lighthouse, but to add to the ambience of the area surrounding the castle. The locals call it the Folly Tower, because all that was built was the walls around the tower. No steps or floors were ever put in it, but to see it on top of the hill, one would think that it has some type of military importance. The hike only took 10 minutes to the top, and less than that coming down, but I needed the exercise. While hiking it, my leg barely brushed up a stinging nettle plant (the second time ai have done this on this trip). I don’t recommend doing this if you can help it. It doesn’t leave permanent damage, but it does create a little discomfort for the rest of the day.











3 sleeps left until I cut my trip short and head back home, but today was a good day, and I’m gonna miss the sunny days I have had. The high temp today was 65, a far cry from what it will be when I get back to the States.

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