Castle Drogo

Castle Drogo

Castle Drogo is famous for being the last castle built in England and so we thought we would make a slight detour to go an see it on our way home from Cornwall. It was built by Sir Edwin Lutyens for Julius Drewe, founder of the Home and Colonial Stores from which he made his money. He was adamant that his new home should be a castle, and furthermore one with 6ft thick walls.

The site was bought in 1910 on a granite outcrop over the Teign Gorge on the edge of Dartmoor.

Work continued until 1930, just a year before Drewe's death. Pevsner describes the castle as Minimal Tudor, but I think it has the appearance of a Cambridge College of the 1970s.
 

 

 

Here is the main entrance. You can see that work is underway on the roof, and one of the National Trust Guides observed that it eventually cost £15m to build and a further £10m to finally fix the leaking roof

 

The interior is interesting with areas of bare stonework ...

 

 

... unadorned windows ...

 

 

... and rooms with interior panelling and curtains that seemed quite cosy and traditional.

 

This is the unusual chapel, seen from the outside ...

 

 

... and from the inside.

 

 

And one more external viewpoint shows the end of the main range with what appear to be fins.

 

 

 

We finished our visit in the delightful National Trust garden.