Okehampton Castle

Okehampton Castle was built between 1068 and 1086 by Baldwin FitzGilbert, a Norman lord who put down a revolt in Devon in 1068 and was probably granted extensive lands there around this time. By Domesday Book in 1086 he held the Honour of Okehampton — a grouping of around 200 estates across Devon guarded by several castles — and was also Sheriff of Devon and Constable of Exeter Castle. His castle at Okehampton, the honour's caput, guarded a crossing of the West Okement River and was garrisoned under a castle-guard system, tenants holding land for garrison service. Baldwin also founded a new town nearby, with a market and a mill, which eventually eclipsed the older Anglo-Saxon settlement and took the name Okehampton.

On Baldwin's death the castle passed to his daughter Adeliza, though the family took little interest in the property, and it does not appear to have played any part in the civil war of 1139–1153 known as the Anarchy.

In 1173 the castle came by marriage to Renaud de Courtenay; his son Robert de Courtenay married the daughter of William de Redvers, Earl of Devon. It was requisitioned by Richard I between 1193 and 1194 to help defend Devon, and the de Courtenays carried out further building work in the bailey. By 1274, when Hugh de Courtenay held the property, a survey described it as reduced to little more than 'an old motte which is worth nothing', with a poorly built hall, chamber and kitchen outside it — though this may understate the castle's actual condition.

The Redvers line died out in 1297, and Hugh's son — another Hugh de Courtenay — inherited their lands and was confirmed as Earl of Devon. Though the family's main seat was at Tiverton Castle, Hugh and his father rebuilt Okehampton as a hunting lodge, laying out a new deer park of some 690 hectares to its south, replacing older unenclosed hunting grounds and clearing away the settlements that had stood there. Toward the public road the rebuilt castle presented what the historian Oliver Creighton terms a 'martial facade' of narrow windows and towering defences; toward the deer park its walls were low and its windows large.

The Courtenay household continued to grow — by the 1380s, under Edward de Courtenay, it numbered up to 135 'familiars' — and the castle's facilities were extended further in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, probably to accommodate them.

The de Courtenays were heavily involved in the Wars of the Roses. Thomas de Courtenay fought for the Yorkists before reconciling with the Lancastrians; his son, also Thomas, died after being captured at the Battle of Towton in 1461, and Edward IV confiscated the castle, though it was later restored by Henry VI. John Courtenay died fighting for the Lancastrians at Tewkesbury in 1471, and the castle and earldom were confiscated again; both were returned to Edward Courtenay when Henry VII took the throne in 1485.

Edward's son William had a turbulent political career that saw the castle confiscated once more, and William's son Henry Courtenay was executed by Henry VIII in 1539, permanently ending the family's hold on Okehampton.

A survey taken after Henry Courtenay's execution still praised the castle as having 'all manner of houses of offices', but from this point the castle appears to have been abandoned and left to decay, with some of its lead and stonework taken for use elsewhere, while the Crown rented out the deer park. From 1623 ownership of the castle carried the right to appoint Okehampton's two Members of Parliament. The Battle of Sourton Down was fought nearby in 1643 during the Civil War, but the castle itself played no part in the fighting. A bakehouse was set up in the late 17th century, reusing part of the western lodgings, and the deer park was cleared during the 18th century and returned to farmland.

By the 19th century the castle was completely ruined and had become a popular subject for "Picturesque" and Sublime painters, among them Richard Wilson in 1771, Thomas Girtin in 1797 and J. M. W. Turner in 1824; Sir Vyell Vyvyan later made minor repairs. Sydney Simmons bought the castle in the early 20th century, clearing vegetation and repairing stonework in 1911–1913 before passing it to the Okehampton Castle Trust in 1917; the Ministry of Public Building and Works took over the site in 1967, restoring it and carrying out excavations in the early 1970s. It is operated by English Heritage as a tourist attraction, protected as a scheduled monument and, since 1987, a Grade I listed building.