Dunster Castle, Minehead, England

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

Following the Norman Conquest, a Saxon fortress at Dunster was granted to William de Mohun. His son, also William (died around 1155), rebuilt much of the Castle’s defences in stone, enabling it to withstand a siege by King Stephen’s troops in 1138. The lower ward of the Castle was enlarged and strengthened by Sir Reynold de Mohun (died around 1257). In 1378, Lady Joan de Mohun, the widow of Sir John de Mohun (died 1375), sold the property to Lady Elizabeth Luttrell (died 1395), wife of Sir Andrew Luttrell of East Quantoxhead, Somerset. Following Lady de Mohun’s death in 1404, Lady Luttrell’s son, Sir Hugh, took possession of the Castle in 1405. He repaired and improved the building, and in 1420 built a new gatehouse. The Luttrells were deprived of their estates by Edward IV in the mid-15th century, and remained dispossessed until the accession of Henry VII, when Dunster was restored to Sir Hugh Luttrell (died 1521). Sir Hugh’s great-grandson, Sir George, who inherited Dunster in 1571, made significant changes to the Castle, employing William Arnold in 1617 to build a new house in the lower ward. During the Civil War the Castle was surrendered to the Crown by Thomas Luttrell in 1643, and was later besieged by Parliamentary forces in 1645-6. Following the discovery of a Royalist plot centred in Somerset, Parliament ordered the demolition of the Castle defences, leaving only the early 17th-century house in the lower ward intact (Lyte 1882; Lyte 1909; guidebook).

In 1680, Dunster was inherited by Col Francis Luttrell, who was married to Mary Tregonwell, heiress to Milton Abbas, Dorset (see description of this site elsewhere in the Register). They restored and improved the house until Col Luttrell’s death in 1690, when the estate passed to his younger brother, Alexander (1663-1711). His widow, Dorothy, made significant improvements to the setting of the Castle during the minority of their son, including levelling the keep to form a bowling green, and making a new drive (Country Life 1987; guidebook). This son, also Alexander, died in 1737 leaving an only daughter, Margaret Luttrell (172-66), aged eleven. In 1747 she married her second cousin, Henry Fownes (1723-80) of Nethway, Devon, who assumed the additional name Luttrell. He continued the work begun by Dorothy Luttrell, completing the new approach to the Castle, forming a deer park to the south of an existing park, and building a series of Gothic follies in the garden and park with the advice of the artist Richard Phelps (CL 1987; guidebook; Headley & Meulenkamp 1989).

Henry Fownes Luttrell was succeeded in 1780 by his son, John (died 1816), who left Dunster to his son, also John. When John Luttrell died unmarried in 1857, the estate passed to his younger brother, Henry, who died in 1867 and was succeeded by his nephew, George Luttrell (1826-1910) who commissioned Anthony Salvin (1799-1881) to remodel and extend the house in 1868. George Luttrell died in 1910 and was succeeded by his son, Alexander (1855-1944). From 1920 the Castle was occupied by Alexander Luttrell’s son, Geoffrey (1887-1957), who sold the freehold to the Ashdale Property Company in 1944. The freehold was later acquired by the Crown Commissioners, who in 1954 sold the Castle and part of the park back to Geoffrey Luttrell. When he died in 1957, the Castle and remaining portion of the park passed to his son, Lt Colonel Walter Luttrell MC, who in 1976 presented the property to the National Trust (guidebook).

The site remains (2002) in divided ownership, the Castle and its immediate grounds being the property of the National Trust and the remainder belonging to the Crown Commissioners.