Gidleigh Castle

The Prouz family had held the manor of Gidleigh from at least the later half of the 12th century. The castle was probably built by Sir William Prouz, leaving a sole daughter and heiress Alice Prouz (1286–1335), who married Sir Roger de Moels (died 1323), thought to have been brother of John de Moels, 1st Baron Moels. By Roger, Alice left three daughters and co-heiresses who divided Alice's extensive inheritance, including Gidleigh manor and its castle. Gidley would pass to one of these, Alice de Moels, wife of John Daumarle (Damerell). Some time after the ca. 1393 death of Sir John Daumarle, Alice de Moels' son, his inheritance including the manor of Gidleigh and thus its castle was claimed…

Although the structure has been known as a castle since at least the 17th century, when William Pole referred to it as such, The architectural details of Gidleigh Castle are very similar to those of the contemporaneous rebuilding of the richer Courtenay family's Okehampton Castle, six miles to the north-west, and Gidleigh was probably conceived in imitation of that family. All that survives of the castle today is a small, ruined keep tower with an undercroft and a hall or solar above. A stairway within the west and south walls links the two, and there was also an external newel stairway (now mostly collapsed) on the east wall. A fireplace in the hall has been much altered; it is flanked by…