Okehampton Castle Keep

Okehampton Castle was built during the years between the Norman Conquest in 1066 and the compilation of the Domesday survey in 1086 by Baldwyn De Brionys, Sheriff of Devon. It was sited on a natural spur of shale that had been the site of a Saxon fortification. In 1173 the castle came into the hands of the Courtenay family who were associated with Okehampton for the following 350 years. By 1274 the castle had become semi-derelict as the Courtenay's main home was elsewhere but by 1300 the castle had been rebuilt as a prestige residence at the centre of a large deer park.