>> | Home | Books | Visit | Explore & More | Events | FAQs | Contacts
Hemyock Castle
Ancient Heart of the Blackdowns
Heritage Open Day Sunday 8th September 2024, 2-5pm
Note. Hemyock Castle will NOT be open on Sunday 15th September 2024
Hemyock Castle and Village will again take part in this hugely popular celebration of culture and heritage. For HODs2024, we plan to offer both physical & video online tours. No pre-booking needed.
- Heritage Events Links Page
- Hemyock Castle: Brief History
- Free Hemyock Castle Tours
- Free Youtube Video Tours
- St Mary's Church Hemyock
- Covid Precautions
- Other Local Heritage Events
Hemyock Castle is set in the now tranquil Culm Valley within the beautiful Blackdown Hills in Devon, just a few miles from the M5 Motorway and Taunton. The rare surviving ruins of Hemyock's moated medieval castle are a scheduled Ancient Monument. The remaining gatehouse archway, towers & curtain-walls surround the older manor house. Although situated in the heart of Hemyock village, the castle site is screened by trees and walls, so surprisingly little can be seen from the road.
In 1380, King Richard II granted a licence to crenellate the older fortified manor house; effectively giving "planning permission" for the castle. During the English Civil War the castle was garrisoned for Parliament against King Charles I. There were after two brutal sieges. Royalist captives were imprisoned until either they changed sides or were ransomed by their friends. Therefore, when King Charles II was restored to the throne he ordered the castle be "slighted" – its walls and towers were breached so that it could never again be held against the King. Later, the old manor house became a farm house, the old castle buildings were adapted, and the ruins were "quarried" for stone. For the next 300 years until the early 1970s, Hemyock Castle was Castle Farm.
Most of the ruins were not "restored" by later owners, so they date from the original castle defences. A large part of the Eastern gatehouse archway remains, together with parts of some towers, curtain-walls & moat. Visitors also see the Interpretation Centre, pottery & other displays. The manor house and some other buildings are private homes, so are not open to visitors.
Free Physical Tours of Hemyock Castle
Sunday 8th September 2024, 2 to 5pm
No pre-booking needed this year.
Free self-guided tours of Hemyock Castle site, cider-press & farmyard displays, mostly outdoors with some access to buildings. Visitors can follow the trail around the moated Medieval castle ruins and view displays illustrating 700 years of the site's history.
Limited onsite parking available; priority given to pre-booked disabled access. Parking is available on the street or in the village carpark near the Baptist Church.
Note. A section of the path leading to the rear and to our Interpretation Centre is sloping, deep gravel. Wheelchair users will probably need able-bodied assistance.
Self-guiding leaflets can be downloaded free in PDF format from https://www.hemyockcastle.uk/visitor.html
Our new guidebook is available in Kindle format from Amazon (free Kindle reading apps are available for most devices), and as a nicely printed version from Hemyock Castle for 2 Pounds (cash only).
Displays for Heritage Open Days include:
- New for 2024: "Routes, Networks, Connections": Exploring Hemyock Castle's links with Europe... & beyond
- How the site was repeatedly re-invented & adapted – essential for any historic site to survive
- Tale of Two Towers – Did the slighting (destruction) of Hemyock Castle help to make Britain safer & more peaceful?
- People Power – March to Democracy
- Some Extraordinary & Influential Women associated with Hemyock Castle; Including Joan Illery who successfully petitioned the courts & Parliament for years for compensation, after her husband was hanged by Royalists who besieged Hemyock Castle in 1643/44
- Centuries of Trade & Links with Continental Europe; Using artefacts found at Hemyock Castle to demonstrate centuries of close links with continental Europe, for trade, people, and ideas; first created for the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018
- Castle Interpretation Centre – Hemyock Castle through the ages
- Castle Grounds - view the conserved ruins and moat
- Dungeon – archaeological finds
- Ancient Cider Press
- Traditional Farming Tools
Free Online Video Tours
QRCode for bit.ly/234hhhh
Special shortened URL for our YouTube playlist See our Special Heritage Links Page
Our special playlist of our YouTube videos includes new videos: Free-to-view on demand via the Internet using PC / Mac, smartphone, tablet or smart TV. No need to book or log in, except to comment. Note. YouTube may ask permission to store optional cookies.
Use the special URL bit.ly/234hhhh or QRCode for our YouTube playlist and click YouTube's "Play All" option, to avoid being diverted by YouTube.
"Subscribe" (free) to the @RichardSheppard1 YouTube channel for reminders etc. This channel also has the YouTube ID: richard2s
For more details, see our free online video tours webpage.
- Special YouTube playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLn0QIXeXyqNEsYuVFEcRC0K-ZgTyhBfBp&ref=0 - YouTube channel: @RichardSheppard1
- Facebook page: @HemyockCastle
- Instagram account: @HemyockCastle
- X (ie. Twitter) account: @HemyockCastle
For more tips: https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-to-connect-a-keyboard-to-a-tv
St Mary's Church, Hemyock
Just across the stream next to Hemyock Castle, St Mary's Church will hold an open day at the same time. They plan to have a special exhibition including special digital access to Blackdown Archives. Teas & refreshments will be available.
See: St Mary's Church, Hemyock
Heritage Open Days are part of European Heritage Days, a Council of Europe initiative. They are co-ordinated by The National Trust with funding by players of People's Postcode Lottery. Heritage Open Days activities will take place throughout England from 6th to 15th September 2024, with different events on the different days.
Hemyock Castle receives no funding, and makes no charge for entry or events during our Heritage Open Days. We welcome donations to The Blackdown Support Group & Musgrove Leukaemic Group Somerset
Note. We are grateful for the special HODs 2024 grant towards improving our external information boards.
Covid Precautions – May Change at Short Notice
If any of your party have recently had or been in contact with infections or Covid-19, please do not visit our site.
Our plans may have to change, possibly at short notice. We will do our best to post any changes on this website, our @HemyockCastle Facebook page, our @HemyockCastle Instagram account and our @HemyockCastle X (ie. Twitter) account. We welcome feedback, suggestions and advice.
To allow more space, it will be mostly outdoors, with less onsite parking. Some access to our indoor displays such as the Interpretation Centre, where there will be extra ventilation. Please make sure that all members of your party, including children, are considerate to other people's need for space. There will be no need to touch anything, but please bring your own hand sanitizer etc.
We hope that these simple precautions will allow visitors to have a safe, enjoyable visit.
Other Local Heritage Events:
- See our Special Heritage Events Links Page
- Blackdown Hills Natural Landscapes, Heritage Events
- Spiceland Quaker Meeting House, Uffculme (HODs Event)
- Grantlands in Uffculme (HODs Event)
- NT Old Blundell's, Tiverton (Former school built by Sir John Popham, once owner of Hemyock Castle) (HODs Event)
Similar Events:
- Doors Open Days in Scotland
- Open Doors Days in Wales
- European Heritage Open Days in Northern Ireland
- Open House Festival, London
- European Heritage Days
- Ride+Stride, for Historic Church Trusts
- Postcode of Hemyock Castle: EX15 3RJ
- Travelling to Hemyock
- Tour of Hemyock Castle
- Hemyock Castle: Free Online Video Tours
- A Glimpse of the Interpretation Centre
- Hemyock Village Trail
- Return to Hemyock Castle
Home | Books | Visit | Explore & More | Events | FAQs | Contacts
Hemyock Castle, Hemyock, CULLOMPTON, Devon, EX15 3RJ, UK.
© 2001–2024. Prepared and published by Curlew Communications Ltd