Colcombe Castle

Tristram Risdon, writing 1630, described the descent of the manor of Colyton thus: <blockquote>The manor at the Norman Conquest was parcel of the king's demesne, which King William the Conqueror gave to Robert de Mount Chardon; but was released again by King Henry II of England, with the manor of Whitford, which was bestowed on Sir Alan Dunstanville, whose son Sir Walter Dunstanville gave it in marriage (by the consent of King John) unto Sir Thomas Bassett, his nephew, younger son of the Lord Bassett by Alice Dunstanville, sister of the said Walter. This land descended unto the two daughters of the said Sir Thomas Bassett: Joan Bassett, first married Sir Reginald Valletort, secondly married…

Pevsner doubts the building having been a true castle or indeed having been fortified at all. Few remains survive on the site now occupied by a farmhouse and farmbuildings called "Colcombe Abbey Farm". (The appellation "Abbey" appears to have no historical significance as no Abbey is known to have occupied the site.) Only one small building, now converted to a house with Grade II listing, displays signs of ancient construction, namely its mullioned stone window. Hoskins reported this to contain "a splendid kitchen with a fireplace nearly 20 feet across with a private room above". A wide and shallow leat runs under the present farmhouse, suggesting either a former moat, as tentatively…