GIFT OF A NORMAN CASTLE

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 9 August 1917, Page 5

GIFT OF A NORMAN CASTLE

LONDON. ,

The romantic story of a poor boy who came to London to find his fortune, “made good,” and has given proof of his devotion to his native town in Devonshire, was revealed by a meeting of the Okehampton Town Council. Mr Sidney Simons, the son of poor parents, a native of Okehampton, left his home some 55 years ago, and in the course of time became proprietor of a great carpet-cleaning business in London. In 1911 he acquired Okehampton Castle and the extensive woods connected with it, which he has made over to his native town, in addition to an endowment of £IOOO of Consols. Mr Simons, who now lives at North Finchley, has already presented the town with a park and spent several thousands of pounds on the purchase of the land and on laying out the park. He has also expended a large sum, of money in repairing the castle ruins, which were presented to the town by a trust deed by Mr J. J. Newcombe, Mr Simons legal adviser. The history of Okehampton Castle goes back to the Norman ‘Conquest. William the Conqueror gave the barony of Okehampton to Baldwyn de Bryonis, who built the Norman keep. The architecture, ranges from Norman in the keep to the Early English in the chapel. The buildings consisted of ground and first floors and contained a hall, chapel, lodge, keep, guardrooms, and residential apartments. The oldest portions now standing are the walls of the keep.