I visited Okehampton Castle on a wet and rainy Easter Sunday. I had the castle to myself for the time that I was there. We were briefed in on a history of the castle and had an audio tour. The castle is also rumoured to be haunted, and the ghost story probably inspired Arthur Conan Doyle to write the Hound of the Baskervilles. Okehampton Castle is located on the edge of Dartmoor National Park in southwest England.
View of the High Tower from the main Gatehouse - Okehampton Castle
I walked up the cobbled road past the main Gatehouse, learning about the castle from the audio tour as I walked around.
Okehampton Castle Gatehouse
The castle is ruins, and with a little bit of imagination and drawings on boards around, I could envision how it used to look. The Great Hall is one of the ruined rooms, and this led through to a hallway through to kitchen rooms.
Service room and the Great Hall area
There are three main kitchen rooms. One of these contained a hole in the ground, which was used as refridgeration. (This can be seen in the photograph below.) The kitchen room at the back contained the ovens for cooking. The larger oven can be seen in the foreground (circular stone area) in the photograph below. The smaller oven was used on a day-to-day basis, and the larger oven was only used when there were plenty of guests.
Okehampton Castle Kitchens
After viewing the kitchens, I started to climb the steep hill up to the High Tower. From here, I could see the ruins of Okehampton Castle more clearly. In the photograph below, the chapel remains can be seen on the right. Behind those are lodgings for guests.
Okehampton Castle chapel and lodgings
A view higher up from the High Tower
The views from the High Tower were stunning, even in the foggy and wet weather. The High Tower remains are left in a strange formation as the remaining wall pointing upward looks like a splinter. It is impressive.
High Tower
High Tower doorway
I walked around the High Tower. The grounds, which were used for hunting in the older times, contained small creeks and woodland. Guests to the castle can walk around the woodland trails and have picnics, but it was quite wet, so I did not do this.
Woodland from Okehampton Castle
In various places throughout the castle, the remains of the latrines were still visible. The latrines emptied out the exterior of the castle, such as the one below on the High Tower.
Latrine exit - Okehampton Castle
After descending the High Tower, the tour continued to the chapel remains. The chapel was rennovated and used as a kitchen a long time ago (1600s), after the castle was abandoned for some time. A mill was also put on site. However, some remains of the building's original function was noticeable in the typical large windows and a small chapel built into the wall. I could almost imagine the stained glass window panels that would have filled the windows.
Okehampton Castle window
I had a quick look at the lodgings for guests, and in one of these rooms, the latrines were more intact although the floor and ceilings were no longer in place. The holes for the latrines and a washbasin could be seen inset into the wall.
After the lodgings, I walked back down the castle walkway and had a quick look up at the castle from the garden area where there are picnic tables. Of course, no one was going to have a picnic in the weather on that day. I was the only one at the castle at the time, but a small family turned up just as I was leaving.
Okehampton Castle from the grounds
I was happy to see the trees starting to obtain their leaves after the really wet and harsh winter that we have had in England.
Tree buds with raindrops
Have you visited Okehampton Castle? Let me know what you thought of it by leaving a comment below.
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