Compton Castle

Compton Castle stands in the village of Compton, eight kilometres west of Torquay on Devon’s southern coast. A fortified manor house, it occupies a gentle rise above farmland and woodland. The estate has belonged to the Compton, de la Pole, Doddiscombe, Gilbert and Templer families over the centuries. Since the house was built most of its occupants have been Gilberts. The castle is listed at the highest grade and has been in National Trust hands since the middle of the last century. The castle began as a hall with private and service rooms at either end in the 1300s. A towered front was added in about 1520 by John Gilbert. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh, was born here in 1539. Raleigh is said to have smoked the first pipe of tobacco in England during a visit. The central hall fell into ruin by the 1700s but was rebuilt in the 1950s. The family sold the estate in 1785, reclaimed it in 1931 and handed it to the Trust twenty years later on condition that Gilberts continue to live in part of the house. Visitors enter through a gateway defended by two portcullises and loopholes for archers. Inside, the great hall contains a model of Sir Humphrey’s ship Squirrel. A 15th-century staircase leads to the solar, a private room for the lord’s family. The kitchen stands in a separate building to reduce fire risk. Beyond the curtain walls lie small formal gardens enclosed by stone. The castle’s Great Kitchen shows how meals were prepared in the Middle Ages. The house also served as a film set for the 1995 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility.