Powderham Castle is a fortified manor house situated within the parish and former manor of Powderham, within the former hundred of Exminster, Devon, about south of the city of Exeter and mile (0.4 km) north-east of the village of Kenton, where the main public entrance gates are located. It is a Grade I listed building. The park and gardens are Grade II* listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. It is situated on flat, formerly marshy ground on the west bank of the River Exe estuary where it is joined by its tributary the River Kenn. On the opposite side of the Exe is the small village of Lympstone. Starting with a structure built sometime after 1390, the present castle was expanded and altered extensively in the 18th and 19th centuries. The castle remains the seat of the Courtenay family, Earls of Devon. Origin of the name The manor of Powderham is named from the ancient Dutch word polder, and means "the hamlet of the reclaimed marsh-land". History At some time after 1390 the medieval core of the present structure was built by Sir Philip Courtenay (d. 1406), the 5th or 6th son of Hugh Courtenay, 2nd Earl of Devon (d. 1377). The Earls of Devon were seated at Tiverton Castle until 1556, and their cousins of this cadet line known as "Courtenay of Powderham" continued to exist in parallel, not always on amicable terms, as prominent county gentry, arguably the leading and most prestigious gentry family of Devon, actively engaged in the local administration of Devon as JP's, sheriffs and MP's. From 1556, with the extinction of the senior line of Courtenay of Tiverton, the Courtenays of Powderham became de jure Earls of Devon, and became de facto Earls from 1831 when the title was confirmed to them in law. They had, however, obtained the right to sit in the House of Lords when created Viscounts in 1762. The original building on the site was a fortified manor house, the appellation "castle" was added probably no earlier than the 17th century. The building has never been a true castle, that is to say with a keep and moat, although it did possess a curtain wall and yard on the east side (now the rose garden) as shown in the 1745 engraving by Buck. Leland mentioned a barbican or bulwark in this area, but these were demolished