Property Description

Affeton Castle and its surrounding estate lie above the wooded valley of the Little Dart, a tributary of the River Taw. Affeton Castle’s significance lies in the fact it is the only significant late medieval secular residence still left in this part of Devon.

Originally built in the fifteenth-century, Affeton Castle was once the gatehouse of a medieval fortified house. The house itself has sadly been lost in the intervening centuries.

Affeton Castle was sacked three times during the Civil War, and the remaining two-storey gatehouse was described in 1859 as a ruin^*. Fortunately it was saved and substantially rebuilt in the 19th century to serve as a shooting lodge and now a family home.

Affeton Castle is a Grade II* listed building: for more details of the architectural history see entry on Historic England Website.

*_{T. H. Turner and J. H. Parker, Some Account of Domestic Architecture in England, III pt 2 (1859).}

Stories

Building the Castle

Affeton was almost certainly the location of a homestead for many centuries, but at the end of the 14th Century Thomas de Affeton decided to build a fortified manor house with an impressive gatehouse.

The manor house was in the shape of an “E” and sadly fell into ruin after being sacked during the English Civil War in 1645. The only part of the original manor house still standing is the gatehouse, and this is what is known as Affeton Castle today. There was also a moat and whilst not strictly a castle Affeton would have provided some significant protection to its inhabitants.

The English Civil War

Thomas Stucley, the owner of Affeton during the Civil War, fought on the Royalist side and rose to the rank of colonel. Thus the manor became a target for Parliamentary forces. Unfortunately, the house also house also suffered attacks from the Royalists due to Sir Thomas’s brother Lewis being a chaplain to Oliver Cromwell. It is likely that the house suffered considerable damage and was almost certainly set on fire.

At the end of the Civil War, and despite declaring that he was in considerable debt, Thomas was fined £300 by Parliamentary Commissioners in Exeter for his part in the war. Upon the restoration of the monarchy, Thomas was knighted but received little, if any financial compensation So whilst the house was rebuilt it was on a much more modest scale. Only the gatehouse survived to indicate the status of the original buildings but this too fell into ruin over the following centuries.

Sir Walter Raleigh and a Bag of Gold

A story in 1866 magazine reports that in 1603 Sir Lewis Stucley of Affeton was instrumental in the arrest and trial of Sir Walter Raleigh, for which Sir Lewis was allegedly paid £500 in gold.

According to the article, regretting his part in Sir Walter Raleigh’s downfall Sir Lewis allegedly threw the bag of gold down a well somewhere on the estate, the location of which has long been lost to time.

Click on this box to read the full article.

A Timeline of Affeton Castle

Saxon Times

Origins of Affeton

The site of Affeton Castle was likely settled in Saxon times. The suffix “ton” comes from Old English and refers to an enclosure, farm, homestead, or settlement. So Affeton is almost certainly named after a homestead probably belonging to someone with the Anglo-Saxon name of Æffa.

End of 12th C

First Record of Occupation

Although there would have been a farmhouse or residential building on the site, possibly for centuries, the first occupant to be recorded in history was Robert who styled himself “de Affeton” at the end of the 12th Century.

1250-1300

Affeton Village and Church

In the latter half of the 13th Century a church and village appear at Affeton. The village was immediately south of the current castle, and the church was somewhere near Affeton Castle crossroads. Unfortunately, nothing remains of either above ground today, but clear signs of the outline of buildings and trackways can still be seen in the field immediately south of the castle.

1349-1351

Bubonic Plague

The bubonic plague hits Devon for first time in 1349. The village of Affeton appears to have been abandoned at around the same time and is probably connected to the devastation caused by the plague. Although the village disappears the church remained and Affeton as a parish continued for nearly another hundred years.

1350-1410

Thomas de Affeton & Elizabeth de Mannyngford

Thomas de Affeton was born around 1350 to a father of the same name. Around 1377 he married Elizabeth de Mannyngford who was heiress to a number of estates in Somerset and Dorset and thus greatly increased the family wealth.

1377-1407

Fortified Manor House Built

With his increased income obtained through marriage Thomas de Affeton erected a fortified manor house which was in the shape of the letter “E”. By tradition the house was positioned in the orchard below the current buildings, known as Affeton Barton. But the location of the gatehouse , and evidence below ground suggests it probably occupied the site of the current buildings.

NEEDS PLAN or LINK TO IT

1404-1467

Katherine de Affeton

Katherine was six years old when she inherited the Affeton estate from her grand-father Thomas de Affeton. In around 1430 Katherine married Hugh Stucley. Hugh was a second son and may have added little wealth or income to the estate. It was during Katherine’s and Hugh’s lifetime that the parish of Affeton ceased to exist. The Stucley family live in Affeton Castle to this day.

1439

Affeton Church

In 1439, Affeton Church was reduced to the status of a chapel attached to the house at Affeton. It is likely that the church could no longer be maintained as a parish church due to there being insufficient residents in Affeton to support the living of a rector. There is a record of a Thomas Stucley, being baptized there in1475, indicating its continued use by the family. It is not known when the church fell out of use or the date of its later destruction, but in 1534, Nicholas Hamlyn, the Rector of West Worlington, left a gown in his will to “Sir John, chapelyn to Sir Thomas Stucley” which points to its use into the 16th century.

1645-1646

Civil War Destruction

During the English Civil War, Affeton was sacked three times, twice by Royalist forces and once by the Roundheads. It is likely that much of the main house was ruined by fire. At the close of the Civil War the then owners were hit hard financially, but they seem to have resumed occupation of Affeton within a comparatively short time. It is likely that they made repairs to what was left of the old house since they may have had insufficient money to rebuild entirely.

Early 19th C

Castle in Ruins

In the first half of the 19th century the manor house was reportedly a ruin, and the gatehouse (which is what we know today as Affeton Castle) was also in a state of disrepair.

1858-1868

Restoration of Gatehouse

In 1858 Sir George Stucley, 1st Baronet, started work to restore the gatehouse to serve as a hunting lodge or shooting box. The gateway arch was blocked up and the moat filled in at this time. Despite announcing the works complete in 1868 , see press cutting below, the restoration work appears to have continued for a number of years as the census records for 1871 and 1881 show that the residents of the Castle were stonemasons.

Renovation work included the removal of a tree growing out of the gatehouse tower and repair to the stonework that had been damaged when a donkey, that had climbed the spiral staircase and could not be coaxed down again, was lowered on a rope.

1859

Stables

In 1859 stables are added to the gatehouse, no doubt to accommodate the horses of visitors to the shooting lodge.

1868-1970

Shooting Lodge

For over a hundred years the Castle was used as a shooting lodge and the only permanent household members were at first, stonemasons who were no doubt working on the renovations and latterly caretakers or gamekeepers and their families.

1970-present

Family Home Once More

In 1970 the current occupants, Sir Hugh and Lady Angela Stucley, moved into the Castle as their permanent home. Sir Hugh and Lady Angela have undertaken a number of renovations and improvements, including the removal of the stables, to enlarge the accommodation and make it a family home.

Press Cuttings

Restoration of the Gatehouse

This piece in the North Devon Journal dated 16th September 1869 describes how the castle had been ransacked by the army of General Fairfax in 1646 and the Gatehouse, which had survived the destruction of the castle, had not been in use since that date. Sir George Stucley in 1858 had started to restore the Gatehouse as a shooting lodge and on completing the work in 1869 entertained his tenantry in the old Guard-room.

It should be noted that in the booklet below produced in 1967 by John Stucley he disputes the story told in this cutting that Sir Thomas was in residence at the time of the sacking.

Eggesford Hunt at Affeton Castle

Published in the Western Times 29th January 1932, The Eggesford Hunt meeting at the Castle with the building in the background.

Affeton Castle – A Lost Devon Village

The booklet below recounts the history of Affeton, its manor-house and its people from Saxon times to the 20th Century. It was written in 1967 by John Humphrey Albert Stucley (1916-1988) the son of Sir Hugh Nicholas Granville Stucley, 4th Baronet and Gladys Bankes, and uncle to the current owner of Affeton Castle Sir Hugh Stucley, 6th Baronet.