Berry Pomeroy is a village and civil parish

Civil parish

In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 in the South Hams

South Hams

South Hams is a local government district on the south coast of Devon, England with its headquarters in the town of Totnes. It contains the towns of Dartmouth, Kingsbridge, Ivybridge, Salcombe — the largest of which is Ivybridge with a population of 16,056....

 district of Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, about two miles east of Totnes

Totnes

Totnes is a market town and civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...

. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 973. Berry Pomeroy is part of the Totnes

Totnes

Totnes is a market town and civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...

 constituency, although it is in fact larger than the neighbouring town (in terms of the geographic size of the parish, not comparative population).

Feudal barony

Berry Pomeroy was the caput

Caput

The Latin word caput, meaning literally "head" and by metonymy "top", has been borrowed in a variety of English words, including capital, captain, and decapitate...

of a large feudal barony

English feudal barony

In England, a feudal barony or barony by tenure was a form of Feudal land tenure, namely per baroniam under which the land-holder owed the service of being one of the king's barons. It must be distinguished from a barony, also feudal, but which existed within a county palatine, such as the Barony...

 whose holder according to the Domesday Book

Domesday Book

Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

 of 1086 was Ralph de Pomeroy. The family retained the barony until at least 1327. It comprised almost 32 knight's fee

Knight's fee

In feudal Anglo-Norman England and Ireland, a knight's fee was a measure of a unit of land deemed sufficient from which a knight could derive not only sustenance for himself and his esquires, but also the means to furnish himself and his equipage with horses and armour to fight for his overlord in...

s in 1166. The family came from La Pommeraye, near Falaise

Falaise

Falaise is the name of several communes in France:* Falaise, Ardennes* Falaise, Calvados** The Falaise pocket was the site of a battle in the Second World War* La Falaise, in the Yvelines département* The Falaise escarpment in Quebec City...

, Normandy

Berry Pomeroy Castle

Berry Pomeroy Castle

Berry Pomeroy Castle

Berry Pomeroy Castle, a Tudor mansion within the walls of an earlier castle, is near the village of Berry Pomeroy, in South Devon, England. It was built in the late 15th century by the Pomeroy family which had held the land since the 11th century. By 1547 the family was in financial difficulties...

, which can be found in Berry Pomeroy, has often been cited as being the most haunted castle in Britain. The most famous "ghost in residence" is the White Lady. The castle is owned by the Duke of Somerset

Duke of Somerset

Duke of Somerset is a title in the peerage of England that has been created several times. Derived from Somerset, it is particularly associated with two families; the Beauforts who held the title from the creation of 1448 and the Seymours, from the creation of 1547 and in whose name the title is...

; however, its upkeep is maintained by English Heritage

English Heritage

English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...

. The castle was considered a 'romantic ruin' by the Victorians and a tragic love story involving Margaret, Eleanor and a handsome knight is based around the castle. The castle appeared in a recent BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 Timewatch

Timewatch

Timewatch is a long-running British television series showing documentaries on historical subjects, spanning all human history. It was first broadcast on 29th September 1982 and is produced by the BBC, the Timewatch brandname is used as a banner title in the UK, but many of the individual...

documentary

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 "White Slaves and Pirate Gold". The contemporary British television show Most Haunted

Most Haunted

Most Haunted is a British paranormal documentary reality television series. The series was first shown on 25 May 2002 and ended on 21 July 2010. It was broadcast on Living and presented by Yvette Fielding. The programme was based on investigating purported paranormal activity...

has also made a visit to the site.

Royal associations

Parliament Cottage is a mile away from the village, in Longcombe. This was where William of Orange

William III of England

William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...

 is said to have held his first Parliament

Parliament of England

The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...

 after invading England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 in 1688.

Berry Pomeroy has the distinction of being the only parish in the country which still observes "Queene's Day

Queene's Day

Queene's Day celebrates the accession of Queen Elizabeth I to the throne of England on November 17, 1558. Observance of the latter, though once universal in England and Wales, is now maintained in only one English village, namely Berry Pomeroy in Devon....

", the anniversary of the accession of Elizabeth the First on November 17. Celebrations begin with evensong in the parish church and culminate with a bonfire in the adjacent field, upon which is burned an effigy of Satan.

Parish Church

St. Mary's Church, in the village centre, has a rood screen

Rood screen

The rood screen is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, or wrought iron...

 forty-two feet long, and the stained-glass window dates from the fifteenth century. The rood screen is very unusual in being complete from end to end but also has the original coving, cornice and cresting. The wainscoting has painted figures. Between 1681 and 1834 the village was served by just three vicars: John Prince

John Prince (Totnes)

John Prince was vicar of Totnes and Berry Pomeroy in Devon, England, and was a biographer of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. He is notable for his major work, The Worthies of Devon...

, John Fox and John Edwards.

The church was once visited by William III

William III of England

William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...

 and more recently by the Duke of Kent

Prince Edward, Duke of Kent

The Duke of Kent graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on 29 July 1955 as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Scots Greys, the beginning of a military career that would last over 20 years. He was promoted to captain on 29 July 1961. The Duke of Kent saw service in Hong Kong from 1962–63...

. American soldiers were stationed in the village in the build up to D-Day

D-Day

D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...

 and were billeted in tents opposite the church, in which items of that time are on display. American veterans revisited Berry Pomeroy for the 60th anniversary of the invasion. To celebrate the turning of the millennium

Millennium

A millennium is a period of time equal to one thousand years —from the Latin phrase , thousand, and , year—often but not necessarily related numerically to a particular dating system....

 in 2000, a new bench was erected opposite the War Memorial. Every summer, a fete is held in the grounds of the manor house next to the church, where maypole dancing

Maypole dance

Maypole dancing is a form of folk dance from western Europe, especially England, Basque Country, Sweden, Galicia, Portugal and Germany,- History :...

, Devonshire cream tea

Cream tea

A cream tea, Devonshire tea, Devon cream tea or Cornish cream tea is tea taken with a combination of scones, clotted cream, and jam....

s and a coconut shy

Coconut shy

A coconut shy is a traditional game, originally known as 'The love grove alley', frequently found as a sidestall at funfairs and fêtes. The game consists of throwing wooden balls at a row of coconuts balanced on posts. Typically a player buys three balls and wins each coconut successfully dislodged...

 may be enjoyed. The church features in the final wedding scene of Ang Lee

Ang Lee

Ang Lee is a Taiwanese film director. Lee has directed a diverse set of films such as Eat Drink Man Woman , Sense and Sensibility , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , Hulk , and Brokeback Mountain , for which he won an Academy...

's film Sense and Sensibility

Sense and Sensibility

Sense and Sensibility, published in 1811, is a British romance novel by Jane Austen, her first published work under the pseudonym, "A Lady." Jane Austen is considered a pioneer of the romance genre of novels, and for the realism portrayed in her novels, is one the most widely read writers in...

.

Local government

Berry Pomeroy's Parish Council meets at the Village Hall, next to Berry Pomeroy Parochial Primary School.

Berry Pomeroy, along with nearby villages, is part of the East Dart ward which is represented by a councillor on the South Hams District Council.