ow give a skull-like appearance to the frame of the west
front. There is not the feeling of repose that there is about some
ruins, which seem to disown their debt to man, and to be bent on
pretending that they are as entirely a work of Nature as any
lichen-covered boulder lying near them. I do not know if Berry Pomeroy
is said to be haunted, but it awakens an uneasy sensation that it is
itself a ghost--the ghost of an unsatisfied ambition, the creation of
many minds who planned and toiled, soared and fell.

As a matter of fact, the Seymours' castle was never finished, and it is
curious that, as it was destroyed in comparatively recent times, there
should be no account of such an important event. The theory most usually
accepted is that it was burned by lightning; but there is no absolute
proof that this was the case.

Of the Pomeroys of Berry Pomeroy few records of much importance remain.
Ralph de la Pomerai was so 'greatly assistant to William the Conqueror'
in subduing this kingdom, that no less than fifty-eight lordships in
Devonshire were awarded him. Henry de Pomeroy, in the reign of King
John, was a powerful and rebellious noble, who must have been a terror
to his weaker neighbours. Occasional glimpses of this family are given
by old deeds and papers, as, for instance, in 1267, when a 'Pardon' was
granted by 'Edward, eldest son of the king, to Sir Henry de la Pomeroy,
who was against the king in the late disturbances in the kingdom.' About
the same date is a grant by Sir Henry, 'for the health of his soul,' of
the Manor of Canonteign, the advowsons of four churches, and 'other
possessions to the Prior and Convent of the Blessed Mary of Martin ...
by ordinance of Walter, Bishop of Exeter.'

Some years later Edward I, now King, sent a second pardon to Sir Henry
'and Joan, his wife, for detaining Isabella, daughter and one of the
heirs of John de Moles, deceased, and marrying her against the king's
will to William de Botreaux, the younger.' So that he appears to have
followed his own pleasure with extreme independence.

A note on a more peaceful subject is extracted from the Testa de Nevil:
'Geoffrey de la Worthy holds one tenement, four acres of land and a
half, and two gardens of Henry de la Pomeroye, in Bery, rendering at
Easter and Midsummer four shillings and nine pence, and one pound of wax
and three capons, the price of the wax sixpence, and the capons one
penny.' One penny!

The terms of settling several