136 BERRY POMEROY CASTLE. 



the only sound within the precincts of the fabric ; and on the top 

 of the highest wall a raven annually builds his nest, " and as he 

 croaks and stamps, and pulls up the dry grass with his beak and 

 tosses it angrily down on the heads of the intruders below, he 

 seems to be animated by the spirit of the last of the Pomeroys, 

 and to assert his ancient seigniory over the place. " 



Berry Castle descended from Sir Ralph de Pomerai in an un- 

 interrupted succession, and remained in his family for nearly five 

 centuries ; namely from the Conquest to the reign of Edward the 

 VI ; when the property was sold by Sir Thomas Pomeroy to 

 Edward Seymour, or (as the fashionable alias fancies it) St. 

 Maur, Duke of Somerset, the Protector; others suppose 

 that this disgraceful alienation originated in another cause, 

 and that, as Sir Thomas Pomeroy was deeply involved in the re- 

 bellion of 1549, he made over his manor and Castle of Berry to 

 the Duke of Somerset, as a compromise for his life. It is however 

 more probable that it was conveyed by grant or purchase immedi- 

 ately from the Crown, for it is evident that the Protector enjoyed 

 no such power as is here assigned to him, since he was himself in 

 in the Tower at the time of Pomeroy 's attainder, and was beheaded 

 on Tower hill in 1552. The eldest son of this accomplished but 

 ill-fated nobleman, Lord Edward Seymour, retired to his newly- 

 acquired possessions, and sought in Berry Pomeroy that quiet 

 which had shone so feebly on his father's fate ; but fifty years had 

 scarcely past, when the whole of his magnificent mansion was de- 

 stroyed and deserted for ever and left in ruin and decay. 



it would be an interesting, and by no means unprofitable task 

 to collect and examine the legends associated with this and the 

 other feudal castles in the west of England. Such an undertaking 

 on an extended scale has been promised to the world, and the 

 names of Roscoe and Leitch Ritchie are ample pledges for its per- 

 formance ; and we hope that some more light will at length be 

 thrown on these relics of Devon. We have the following tales of 

 this Castle : 



In the time of Richard the first, Henry Pomeroy warmly espou- 

 sed the cause of the rebels, and by his support of Prince John, 

 contributed in no small degree to foment the civil commotions of 

 that reign. On the return of Richard from the Holy Land, a 

 herald was dispatched to Berry Castle under the pretence of bring- 

 ing tidings from the King, who after enjoying the hospitality of 

 Pomeroy for many days, is said to have suddenly arrested him as 

 a traitor, to make his appearance before the Court to answer to a 

 capital charge; "which unexpected and ill carryed message the 

 *ent took in such despite, as with his dagger he stabbed the mes- 

 ) to the heart. " He instantly retired to his Castle at Tre- 

 _<>!)>- in Cornwall which he fortified in behalf of Prince John, and 

 subsequently advancing with his retainers, in the dresses of Bene- 

 dictine Monks, to St. Michael's Mount, he vfas admitted by the 

 brethren on the score of friendship ; when he threw off his clis^ub" 



