WILLIAM DELAMOTTE (1775-1863) 'Berry Pomeroy near Totnes'

WILLIAM DELAMOTTE (1775-1863) 'Berry Pomeroy near Totnes' Castle ruins beside water, watercolour, 25cm x 34.5cm Berry Pomeroy Castle, a Tudor mansion set within the walls of an earlier castle was abandoned in the late 17th century when Sir Edward Seymour (1632/33-1708) of Berry Pomeroy, the speaker of the House of Commons moved to Bradley House, in Maiden Bradley, Wiltshire, to be closer to London. The Castle was a ruin by 1701, when John Prince, who had known the castle in its heyday, referenced it in his book 'The Worthies of Devon' "...The apartments within were very splendid; especially the dining room, which was adorn'd, besides paint, with statues and figures cut in alabaster......'tis now demolished, and all this glory lieth in the dust..." With the rise of the 'Picturesque' aesthetic at the end of the 18th century, the castle, then the haunt of jackdaws and overgrown with ivy was considered to be a romantic ruin, often visited by artists. Provenance: The Wren Gallery, Blackheath