BOVEY CASTLE

Devon

Although not truly a Castle – it only gained that name in 2003 – Bovey Manor is a massive edifice and does have some interesting history.

In 1890 William Henry Smith – WH Smith of newsagents fame – purchased 5,000 acres of land here for £103,000. The Estate included Moretonhampstead and North Bovey villages. Smith became Viscount Hambleden and it was his son, Frederick, who began building North Bovey Manor House in neo-Jacobean style. Amongst the rooms was one designed by Robert Adam.

Frederick became strongly involved in local affairs and led the Devonshire Yeomanry at Gallipoli and in Egypt during World War I. The Manor became a convalescent home during the First World War and resumed a similar role during World War II.

After the First World War the Hambleden’s rarely used North Bovey Manor House and after Lord Hambleden died in 1928 the house was sold due to a death duty of £1,000.000. It was sold to the Great Western Railway who bought it for an alleged £15,000 to turn it into a golfing hotel. The hotel opened in 1930 and entertained a number of well known guests. Amongst those was Joachim von Ribbentrop who booked a whole floor for himself and his family and entourage. He intended to buy the Manor after the English had been defeated in World War II – a plan that, of course, never came to fruition.

After World War II the Manor was returned to the Great Western Railway who re-opened the hotel and they owned it until 1991.

In 2003 the Manor House was officially renamed as Bovey Castle and has continued to expand as an hotel, which is the function it still holds today.

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2018