Okehampton Castle

Okehampton Castle stands on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon. Built between 1068 and 1086 by Baldwin FitzGilbert, it was a motte-and-bailey fortress guarding a crossing over the West Okement River. The castle formed the heart of the Honour of Okehampton, a group of nearly two hundred estates across Devon. Baldwin also founded a new town a kilometre away, which grew into modern Okehampton. After Baldwin’s death the castle passed to his daughter Adeliza, who took little interest in it. By the late 13th century the de Courtenay family owned the castle and turned it into a grand hunting lodge. The de Courtenays enlarged the castle in the 14th century to house a household of up to a hundred and thirty-five people. They created a deer park of six hundred and ninety hectares south of the castle, stocked with fallow deer, wild boar and foxes. Excavations show the family ate venison and fish brought from the coast more than forty kilometres away. The castle’s fortunes declined after the Wars of the Roses, when it was repeatedly confiscated. Henry Courtenay was executed in the 16th century and the property was abandoned, though parts were reused as a bakery in the 17th century. Today the ruins show the remains of the great hall, kitchen and chamber built by the de Courtenays. The motte still rises above the bailey, giving views across the former deer park. English Heritage manages the site, where visitors can walk among the grass-grown foundations and imagine the castle’s grand hunting parties. Turner painted the ruins in the 19th century, drawn by their Picturesque decay. The castle stands as a quiet witness to Devon’s medieval and Tudor past.