Colcombe Castle

"Colecombe Castle", watercolour by Rev. John Swete dated 27 January 1795. Swete wrote: "Standing by the door of (the farmhouse) I took the...sketch which will give some notion of the front and which seems to have been the principal one with an aspect to the west...(with) Colyton to the left". Devon Record Office 564M/F7/77
"Inside of Colecombe Castle", watercolour by Rev. John Swete dated 26 January 1795. Devon Record Office 564M/F7/73
Drawing of remains of Colcombe Castle, by James Ward (1769-1859), apparently from the same viewpoint as the Swete watercolour of 26/1/1795
Surviving ancient building formerly part of Colcombe Castle, situated today in the yard of Colcombe Abbey Farm, facing main farmhouse

Colcombe Castle was a castle or fortified house situated about a 0.5 mi (0.80 km) north of the town of Colyton in East Devon.

It was a seat of the Courtenay family, Earls of Devon, whose principal seat was Tiverton Castle, about 22 miles (35 km) to the north west. It was used as his seat by Thomas de Courtenay, 5th Earl of Devon (d. 1458) while his widowed mother occupied Tiverton Castle as her dower house. Its position near to Shute, the seat of William Bonville, 1st Baron Bonville (1392–1461), the arch-enemy of the 5th Earl, led to some serious territorial battles between the two families, culminating in the Battle of Clyst Heath of 1455.