Feudal barony of Dunster

[1] The historian the Duchess of Cleveland wrote as follows in her 1889 work Battle Abbey Roll concerning the origins of the de Mohun (alias Mohon, Moion, etc.)

[3] He was a favourite of Empress Matilda and a loyal supporter of her in the war against King Stephen, during which he earned the epithet "Scourge of the West" William de Mohun (died 1176) (heir).

She brought him a great estate, and "is set down among the benefactors to the new Cathedral Church of Salisbury, having contributed thereto all the marble necessary for the building thereof for twelve years.

[16] With no expectation of male children, after having entered into several complicated settlements and resettlements of his estates, his wife Lady Mohun found herself in control of his estates, and despite the existence of her three daughters, "all of whom made brilliant matches",[17] in 1374 she sold the reversion of the castle and manor of Dunster, the manors of Minehead and Kilton, and the hundred of Carhampton to Lady Elizabeth Luttrell (died 1395), wife of Sir Andrew Luttrell (died 1378/81), and a daughter of Hugh de Courtenay, 2nd Earl of Devon (1303–1377) and widow of Sir John de Vere, son of the Earl of Oxford.

But Dunster Castle remained unoccupied after 1376 until Lady Mohun's death in 1404, as she lived the rest of her life at or near the royal court and stayed at Minehead on her rare visits to Somerset.

[20] Lady Elizabeth Luttrell (died 1395), wife of Sir Andrew Luttrell (died 1378/81), of Chilton, Devon, and a daughter of Hugh de Courtenay, 2nd Earl of Devon (1303–1377) of Tiverton Castle and widow of Sir John de Vere, son of the Earl of Oxford, who purchased the reversion of the Mohun estates in 1376 for 5,000 marks.

Elizabeth Courtenay survived her husband and remarried twice: Sir James Luttrell died fighting for the Lancastrian cause at the Battle of St Albans in 1461.

He joined Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond on his landing in Wales in 1485, following his return from exile in France, and fought for him at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.

[34] He erected the surviving sculpted stone heraldic panel above the western arch of the Gatehouse to Dunster Castle, showing on six shields (a further two blank) the arms of Luttrell, Beaumont, Audley, Courtenay of Powderham and Hill.

He married twice: Sir Andrew Luttrell (1484–1538), of Dunster, eldest son by his father's first wife Margaret Hill.

[47] Lady Luttrell, who was a "powerful personage" due to her large Wyndham dowry, purchased Dunster Priory following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, which thenceforth descended with the castle.

Thomas Luttrell and Margaret Hadley were distantly related spiritually as well as by blood, as Margaret was the god-daughter of Thomas's mother, making them in the eyes of the church spiritually related as brother and sister;[53] and both were descended from Elizabeth Courtenay (died 1493), daughter of Sir Philip Courtenay (1404–1463) of Powderham.

[55] The legal difficulties encountered by the marriage are related by Maxwell-Lyte as follows:[56] It was probably the last instance in England of the remarriage of two persons who had been divorced on the score of a spiritual relationship.

He embarked on a major rebuilding of the Castle, to the designs of the Somerset architect William Arnold (fl.1595–1637), which produced a Jacobean mansion, much of which exists today, having survived the Victorian remodelling.

He married twice: Thomas Luttrell (1583–1644), son by his father's first wife Joan Stucley, MP for Minehead 1625, Sheriff of Somerset 1631.

The arms of Popham (Argent, on a chief gules two stag's heads cabossed or) are displayed on the top right of the monument in Dunster Church to his grandfather Thomas Luttrell (died 1571).

It was used as a Parliamentary garrison for five years, and in 1650, although the house was spared, the defensive curtain wall was demolished on the order of Oliver Cromwell.

[64] On his death his widow took on the management of the Dunster Castle estate and cleared the debts incurred by her husband's extravagant elder brother Col. Francis Luttrell and his wife Mary Tregonwell.

Shortly before her death she levelled the top of the ancient castle mound formerly occupied by the Norman keep, making thereon a bowling green with brick-built summerhouse.

The couple modernised the Castle, in the Georgian style, which included the addition of new windows in the Dining Room and the Stair Hall and the putting up of then-fashionable Chinese painted wallpaper.

In 1755 Henry started a major landscaping to form pleasure gardens and a 348-acre deer-park at the foot of the Castle, which replaced the former deer park situated some distance away at Blue Anchor Bay.

[65] He employed the Somerset landscape artist and portrait painter Richard Phelps (1710–1785) to add decorative features to the River Avill which flows in the valley beneath the Castle, including romantic bridges, arches and waterfalls.

He also built the eye-catcher folly on nearby Conygar Hill known as Conygat Tower, designed by Phelps, visible from the Castle.

Francis's portrait in the library of Dunster Castle shows him in military uniform with his right eye missing, a battle wound.

Supported by a very large annual income of £22,000, he performed a major remodelling of the Castle to the designs of Anthony Salvin (1799–1881), which cost £25,350, and involved much demolition work (for example of the Chapel built in about 1716) and resulted in the addition of modern Victorian servants' quarters, a massive new block for the kitchens, and the installation of central heating, gas lighting and a bathroom with running hot water.

[72] After his marriage he returned to England with his wife and moved into Dunster Castle, which had been given them by his father, who continued to live at East Quantoxhead.

[76] In 1956 he was a joint founder, with his former army comrade Sir Neville Bowman-Shaw (a Deputy Lieutenant for Bedfordshire,[77] knighted by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for exports), of the leading fork-lift truck company Lancer Boss, a major employer in Leighton Buzzard, which went into receivership in 1994 due to problems with its German affiliate.

[78] Following his marriage in 1973, he retired from the business, having been a director for 17 years, and returned to Dunster, where he obtained a lease of Home Farm from the Crown Commissioners.

He has a daughter Serena and a son, Hugh, qualified in estate management, whom he hopes will succeed him in the Home Farm tenancy, and who is also heir to his uncle at East Quantoxhead.

[76] He maintains links with the National Trust and contributes his personal knowledge in helping to record the modern history of the Castle.