Powderham Castle

Summary

A Grade I listed fortified manor house in Devon on the River Exe estuary, seat of the Earls of Devon, used as a key location in The Remains of the Day (1993) and Churchill: The Hollywood Years.

About this location

Powderham Castle stands on the flat ground of the west bank of the River Exe estuary, six miles south of Exeter in Devon. The site lies where the River Kenn joins the Exe, with views across the estuary to the village of Lympstone on the opposite bank. The medieval core of the present structure was built after 1390 for Sir Philip Courtenay, a younger son of the 2nd Earl of Devon; the Courtenay family have held the property ever since, and the present owner is the 19th Earl of Devon. Despite its name and crenellated appearance, Powderham was never a true castle with keep and moat — the castle-like elements on the west front date from 19th-century additions by the architect Charles Fowler.

The interior includes a Marble Hall with a black and white marble floor completed in 1755, a 14th-century longcase clock by Totnes clockmaker William Stumbels, and a notable 17th-century Brussels tapestry above the fireplace. The staircase, with its elaborate plasterwork, is one of the more photographed interiors in Devon. The castle is open to the public during the summer season and hosts concerts and events in the .

The house’s most significant film credit is The Remains of the Day (1993, director James Ivory, starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson). The staircase hall, marble hall, music room, and master bedroom were used as locations for this Merchant Ivory adaptation of the Kazuo Ishiguro novel about a repressed English butler. The house also served as a setting for Churchill: The Hollywood Years (2004, directed by Peter Richardson, a comedy feature starring Christian Slater). The Great Western Railway main line from Exeter to Plymouth runs alongside the castle .