Powderham

entry to Powderham

Powderham Castle overlooks the river Exe, not far south of Exeter.  It's open to public tours for much of the year; some events have been held there, such as weddings and chamber music, but for the most part it's akin to a museum.  The owners live largely to one side of the castle.

front

The front was once the back, and the original ground level was filled in, so this entry was originally one floor up.  The river Exe was originally much closer, but they filled in a fair bit of land between river and castle, which land is called a polder - which led to the name of the castle.

But over time the building has been extensively modified anyway.  The crenellations along the top are recent additions, and there's no battlement behind them that you can walk along or fire arrows from - that was long before.

courtyard is also relatively recent.  Looks impressive, though.

Castles ceased to have defensive functions in the 1400s and 1500s, when modern gunpowder and cannons began to render such defenses obsolete.  From then on, it was country manors, up to the size of Blenheim Palace (home of the Churchills) - or faux castles, or ruins.  Thus for much of Powderham's existence, the fortification aspect of the castle has been just for visual impact - and to tell people "here are people with wealth (and power and title)".

Powderham walls

The walls in particular show the centuries in the variations in stonework: the oldest parts are far more irregular; then, they apparently didn't build upwards, but alongwards, so you can sometimes see in the oldest parts streaks of different-coloured stonework going down the walls.

Courtenay coats of arms, Athon at top.  Coats of arms tend to start off simple, with successive generations quartering (to show dual lines), adding detail, etc.

The castle is the traditional home of the Earls of Devon, the Courtenays.  Or rather, some of the Courtenays.  The laws of primogeniture effectively give all inheritance to the firstborn male, or nearest such.  If you're female, you get married off and take your chances; if you're male but not firstborn, you could join the army or the church (and automatically get a reasonable rank), find a wealthy widow, or make your own way.  Thus, most of the direct descendants descend in rank and wealth over time.  It's plausible that a high proportion of the people in Devon are related to the dukes, and our family tree (if as believed) is a good illustration of that movement and spread of families over time with gradually decreasing inheritances and titles.

In any case, the Earl of Devon title has been restarted a number of times over the centuries, as they go in and out of favour with the kings.  It gets attainted and re-created over and over.

The originator of the line, Athon, fortified a town not too far from Paris, and took his surname from the town.  Descendants came over with William the Conqueror, and got where they were by strategically marrying into land, title and power.

I was not able to take photos inside or at the back, but the whole place felt like a bit of a burden rather than a grandeur for the owners.  A mishmash of styles over the centuries, with generations often wanting to, or feeling they had to, leave their mark.  There were three rooms of library, but again it felt like a museum - without a decent catalogue.  I noticed there were at least two sets of the works of John Milton, and there was only sporadic effort at rational ordering - I suspect that each book-caring earl got their own set of books uniformly bound and then added to a new section of bookcases.  Many of these sets were taken up by political and religious thoughts of long-forgotten Oxford dons and parliamentarians, volume after volume.  There were several secret doors, which I certainly appreciated, but these were achieved by cutting off the books most of the way to the spine, and gluing them in shelves-full to the doors - certainly the doors couldn't sustain the weight of full rows of volumes.

An interesting experience, but I certainly wouldn't want to be tied to the obligations of keeping up the legacy of past generations - those generations would own me, rather than the other way around.