Merryfield, Ilton

View from causeway into south side of rectangular site of demolished Merryfield House, Ilton, with moat to left and right
Site of Merryfield House, now a rectangular site surrounded by trees (centre), viewed from south. The width of the site on the south (entrance) side, as determined by the length of the moat, is about 50 metres

Merryfield (alias Merrifield, Murefeld, Merefeld, Muryfield, Merifield, Wadham's Castle, etc.) is a historic estate in the parish of Ilton, near Ilminster in Somerset, England. It was the principal seat of the Wadham family, and was called by Prince (d. 1723) their "noble moated seat of Meryfeild" (sic).[1] The mansion house was demolished in 1618 by Sir John Wyndham (1558–1645), of Orchard Wyndham, a nephew and co-heir of Nicholas II Wadham (1531–1609), co-founder of Wadham College, Oxford, the last in the senior male line of the Wadham family. It bears no relation to the present large 19th-century grade II listed[2] mansion known as Merryfield House, formerly the vicarage, immediately south of St Peter's Church, Ilton.

  1. ^ Prince, John (1810), "Wadham, Sir John, Knight", The Worthies of Devon, p. 748 Biography of Sir John II Wadham (d. 1412), Justice of the Common Pleas
  2. ^ "Merryfield House, Ilton". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 31 August 2014.