Compton Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Nestled in a wooded combe west of Paignton, Compton Castle is one of the finest fortified manor houses in Devon. Behind a tall crenellated façade, pierced with machicolations and a portcullis gate, lies a house that was for more than six centuries the home of the Gilbert family, a line of seafarers and shipowners. The house originated around the beginning of the 14th century, when Geoffrey Gilbert married the Compton heiress. It was enlarged in the 15th century with a solar, a tower and a chapel, then fortified in the early 16th century with curtain walls and corner towers, probably in response to the threat of French raids on the coast. It was here that Sir Humphrey Gilbert grew up, the Elizabethan navigator and half-brother of Walter Raleigh who took possession of Newfoundland in 1583. Neglected in the 18th century, turned into a farm and partly ruined, the castle was bought back in 1931 by Commander Walter Raleigh Gilbert, who restored it and rebuilt the great hall. Given to the National Trust in 1951, it is still lived in by the family and opens to visitors in the summer season, with a walled garden and orchard.