>> | Home | Books | Visit | Explore & More | Events | FAQs | Contacts

Hemyock Castle
Ancient Heart of the Blackdowns

Free Heritage Open Day Sunday 13th September 2026, 2-5pm

Note. Hemyock Castle will NOT be open on Sunday 20th September 2026

Hemyock Castle and Village will again take part in this hugely popular celebration of culture and heritage. For HODs2026, we plan to offer both physical & video online tours. Free entry. No pre-booking needed. All welcome.

Picture of Hemyock Castle Gatehouse

Hemyock Castle is set in the now tranquil Culm Valley within the beautiful Blackdown Hills in Devon, just a few miles from the M5 Motorway and Taunton. The rare surviving ruins of Hemyock's moated medieval castle are a scheduled Ancient Monument. The remaining gatehouse archway, towers & curtain-walls surround the older manor house. Although situated in the heart of Hemyock village, the castle site is screened by trees and walls, so surprisingly little can be seen from the road.

In 1380, King Richard II granted a licence to crenellate the older fortified manor house; effectively giving "planning permission" for the castle. During the English Civil War the castle was garrisoned for Parliament against King Charles I. There were after two brutal sieges. Royalist captives were imprisoned until either they changed sides or were ransomed by their friends. Therefore, when King Charles II was restored to the throne he ordered the castle be "slighted" – its walls and towers were breached so that it could never again be held against the King. Later, the old manor house became a farm house, the old castle buildings were adapted, and the ruins were "quarried" for stone. For the next 300 years until the early 1970s, Hemyock Castle was Castle Farm.

Most of the ruins were not "restored" by later owners, so they date from the original castle defences. A large part of the Eastern gatehouse archway remains, together with parts of some towers, curtain-walls & moat. Visitors also see the Interpretation Centre, pottery & other displays. The manor house and some other buildings are private homes, so are not open to visitors.

Free Physical Tours of Hemyock Castle
Sunday 13th September 2026, 2 to 5pm

No pre-booking needed this year.

Free self-guided tours of Hemyock Castle site, cider-press & farmyard displays, mostly outdoors with some access to buildings. Visitors can follow the trail around the moated Medieval castle ruins and view displays illustrating 700 years of the site's history.

Limited onsite parking available; priority given to pre-booked disabled access. Parking is available on the street or in the village carpark near the Baptist Church.

Note. A section of the path leading to the rear and to our Interpretation Centre is sloping, deep gravel. Wheelchair users will probably need able-bodied assistance.

Self-guiding leaflets can be downloaded free in PDF format from https://www.hemyockcastle.uk/visitor.html

Our new guidebook is available in Kindle format from Amazon (free Kindle reading apps are available for most devices), and as a nicely printed version from Hemyock Castle for 2 Pounds (cash only).

Displays for Heritage Open Days include:

Free Online Video Tours

QRCode: Hemyock Events Quick links Page
QRCode to quick links page hemyock.com/hods/

See our Heritage Events Links Page With a link to our Heritage YouTube playlist which includes new videos.

These are all free-to-view on demand via the Internet using PC / Mac, smartphone, tablet or smart TV. No need to book or log in, except to comment.

Note. YouTube may ask permission to store optional cookies.

Click YouTube's "Play All" option, to avoid being diverted by YouTube.

Use the special short URL hemyock.com/hods/ or QRCode for our Special Heritage Links page. Choose the YouTube playlist, respond to YouTube's cookie message and click YouTube's "Play All" option, to avoid being diverted away by YouTube.

"Subscribe" (free) to the @RichardSheppard1 YouTube channel for reminders etc. This channel also has the YouTube ID: richard2s

For more details, see our free online video tours webpage.

For more tips: https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-to-connect-a-keyboard-to-a-tv

St Mary's Church Hemyock

Just across the stream next to Hemyock Castle, St Mary's Church will hold an open day on 13th September 2026. They plan to have a special exhibition including "Everyday Histories" & special digital access to Blackdown Archives. Teas & refreshments will be available.

See: St Mary's Church, Hemyock

Heritage Open Days are part of European Heritage Days, a Council of Europe initiative. They are co-ordinated by The National Trust with funding by players of People's Postcode Lottery. Heritage Open Days activities will take place throughout England from 11th to 20th September 2026, with different events on the different days.

Hemyock Castle receives no funding, and makes no charge for entry or events during our Heritage Open Days. We welcome donations to The Blackdown Support Group & Musgrove Leukaemic Group Somerset

Covid Precautions – May Change at Short Notice

If any of your party have recently had or been in contact with infections or Covid-19, please do not visit our site.

We hope that these simple precautions will allow visitors to have a safe, enjoyable visit.

Other Local Heritage Events:

Similar Events:

Home | Books | Visit | Explore & More | Events | FAQs | Contacts

Hemyock Castle is a privately owned, scheduled ancient monument;
Normally only open for public tours on Bank Holiday Mondays
(2 to 5 pm) between Easter and September.

To contact us: Click here

Hemyock Castle, Hemyock, CULLOMPTON, Devon, EX15 3RJ, UK.
© 2001–2026. Prepared and published by Curlew Communications