Hemyock Castle

In the civil parish of Hemyock.
In the historic county of Devon (Modern Authority of Devon, 1974 county of Devon).

Ruined castle gatehouse and curtain walls. Circa 1380: in this year Sir William Asthorpe was licensed to erect a 'wall of stone and lime'. There was already a structure of some sort on this site, referred to in a C13 document as a 'court'; the early work on the gatehouse (see below) may date from this period. Random chert rubble. The curtain wall enclosed a roughly rectangular site; the principal remains are the circular towers flanking the main (east) entrance, and a corner tower at the north-east angle. There are remains of 4 other circular mural towers and stretches of curtain wall. No dressed stone or detailing survive, and it is not clear where the entrances to the towers were originally; clearly they were not at ground level. To the rear of the gatehouse towers is a vertical masonry joint probably indicating that part of the structure ante-dates the 1380s work. Beseiged in 1642 when it was garrisoned by Parliamentarians but probably demolished circa1660. The remains of the gatehouse, walls and towers survive. The moat is well defined, from 1 to 2.5m deep around the southern and western sides, and from 0.7 to 1.2m deep on the northern side. Historical note: Sir William Asthorpe was a courtier, and appointed by Richard II as Sheriff of Devon in the 1380s in the face of considerable local hostility; he had married into the Dynham family, a connection that led to protracted family litigation in the Court of Chivalry; after his year in office as Sheriff, about a dozen cases of embezzlement and other corrupt practices were brought against him by numerous members of the local nobility. He was temporarily imprisoned in The Fleet prison, but pardoned by Richard II. His vulnerability probably explains in part the erection of the castle, but it was doubtless also intended to impress the local gentry.

This site has been described as a;
Masonry Castle.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Masonry ruins/remnants remains.

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1380 Nov 5.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This site is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 95711)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is ST13511328

Modern Map from Good for landscape form and features	Modern Map from Good for general location
Air Photo from	1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 188945

• Web site links
  • http://www.hemyockcastle.co.uk/index.html
    http://www.eng-h.gov.uk/reports/hemyock/
• Books
  • Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses Vol3 (Cambridge) p577
    Higham, Robert A., 1999, 'Castles, Fortified Houses and Fortified Towns in the Middle Ages' in Kain, R. and Ravenhill, W., Historical Atlas of South-West England (University of Exeter Press) p136-43
    Salter, Mike, 1999, The Castles of Devon and Cornwall (Malvern) p66
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p59
    Sheppard, M., 1993, Hemyock Castle
    Pevsner, Nikolaus and Cherry, Bridget, 1989, Buildings of England: Devon (Harmondsworth) p178
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p116
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Wall, C., 1906, in Page, Wm (ed), 'Ancient Earthworks' VCH Devon Vol1 p623
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol2 p32-3
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p355, 418
    Lysons, D. and S., 1822, Magna Britannia Vol6 Devon p. cccxlv-cccxlviii [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/source.asp?pubid=406]
• Journal Articles
  • Blaylock, S.R., Medieval Archaeology Vol 36 p212-15 [plan]
    Higham, R.A., 1988, 'Devon Castles: an annotated list, Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society Vol46 p142-9
    Sherwin, C., 1929, 'Hemyock Castle' Transactions of the Exeter Diocesan Architectural Society [ser3] Vol4 p47-53
    Sherwin, C., 1928-9, 'Hemyock Castle' Devon Cornwall Notes Queries Vol15 p182-3, 206-7
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Calendar of Patent Rolls (1377-81) p552
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p125