Castle Hill in the parish of Filleigh in North Devon, is an early Neo-Palladian country house situated 3 miles north-west of South Molton and 8 mi (13 km) south-east of Barnstaple. It was built in 1730 by Hugh Fortescue, 14th Baron Clinton (1696–1751), who was later created in 1751 1st Baron Fortescue and 1st Earl of Clinton, the son of Hugh Fortescue, lord of the manor of Filleigh, Weare Giffard, etc., whose family is earliest recorded as residing in the 12th century at the manor of Whympston in the parish of Modbury in South Devon. The Fortescue family became major land owners, influential in British and West Country history. Castle Hill is a rare example in Devon of an 18th-century country mansion "on the grand scale".
Castle Hill in 2014. The architectural "sham castle" is on the hill behind
Engraving of Castle-Hill, 1830
Castle Hill in 1880, south facade, published in Morris's "Country Seats"
Castle Hill, main range, viewed from SW
Filleigh is a small village, civil parish and former manor in North Devon, on the southern edge of Exmoor, 3.5 miles (5.6 km) west of South Molton. The village centre's street was, until the 1980s opening of the North Devon Link Road, the main highway between the North Devon administrative centre of Barnstaple and South Molton, leading westwards to Taunton. Much of the village's land is contained within grade I listed park and garden, Castle Hill, which straddles both sides of the Link Road providing a glimpse of some of it.
St Paul's Church, Filleigh, viewed from south
Arms of Denzell: Sable, a mullet in chief and a crescent in base argent. These arms survive sculpted in stone on the monument to Sir Richard de Pomeroy (1442–1496), in Berry Pomeroy Church
Mural monument to Lucy Fortescue (died 1767), 2nd wife and widow of Hugh Fortescue (died 1719), father by his 1st wife Bridget Boscawen of Hugh Fortescue, 1st Baron Fortescue and 1st Earl Clinton (1696–1751), and by his 2nd wife, the subject of the monument, of Matthew Fortescue, 2nd Baron Fortescue (1719–1785), father of Hugh Fortescue, 1st Earl Fortescue (1753–1841)
Castle Hill, Filleigh, south facade