Description

SANDHOE BEAUFRONT
NY 96 NE
2/291 Beaufront Castle
15.4.69
GV I

Country House, 1836-1841 by John Dobson for William Cuthbert, incorporating
part of late C17 mansion of the Errington family, on medieval site; minor
extensions c.1870 by J.A. Hansom. Tooled-and-margined ashlar with dressings;
graduated Lakeland slate roofs. The principal apartments form an irregular L
plan with lower ranges around attached stable court on the north. Dobson's
"domestic castellated" style, free Perpendicular/Tudor Gothic.

Entrance front to west, 1-3 storeys, in 5 parts. Chamfered plinths, moulded
string courses, embattled parapets. Central tower porch has moulded arch, with
heraldic hoodmould stops, under tall 3-light window with panelled transom; and
armorial panel above. Taller stair turret on left return has loops, top one
cruciform, and parapet on corbels. Studded segment-headed double doors with
brattished lintel under sunk tympanum with pointed arch. Left 2-storey part:
2 recessed bays and projecting wing, with various windows mostly 2-light; on
far left lower wall with 4 stepped buttresses joins north-west tower of stable
court. To right a single-storey 3-bay smoking room by Hansom, with shouldered
cross windows and a tall 2-storey, 2-bay block with 2 tall pointed-arched 2-
light stair windows. Roofs largely hidden by parapets; several stacks with
multiple octagonal shafts and embattled caps, some rising from parapet.

South front in 2 sections, with similar detail. Left section 2 storeys, 5 bays;
left full-height rectangular bay window, then a canted oriel; at right semi-
octagonal buttresses between 3 single-light windows. On right return a full-
height canted bay and panelled doors under bracketed segmental hood. 4-bay
right section has left 2-storey part, with mullioned windows, and right 3-storey
East Tower, reputedly on foundations of medieval towerhouse. 2-storey projecting
bay and stair turret, with octagonal top, behind; and squared stone wall of
earlier house, refenestrated in C19.

North elevation shows stable court flanked by low towers, joined by entrance
screen (q.v.). Clock tower at rear recess under corbelled lintel, flanked by
broad buttresses, and clock face above. C17 classical stone statues, from
parapets of older house, re-set on buttresssteps and parapets.

Interior: Main apartments have panelled ceilings with deep friezes and pendant
bosses, and carved chimney pieces. Rib-vaulted entrance lobby and lofty main
stair, with glass by Wailes. Billiard Room has lower rib-vaulted cloister on
3 sides behind arcade of moulded 4-centred arches, and roof with hammer beams,
and pendant bosses: one of Dobson's best interiors. Dining Room has mid-C18
fireplace with scrolled jambs and fluted frieze. Extensive cellars with cavity
walls, an innovation inspired by the Roman bath house at Halton Fort which
Dobson measured in 1827.

G. Jabkson-Stops, Country Life Feb 5 1976 286-9, Feb 12 1976 342-5.

Listing NGR: NY9639365942

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Beaufront Castle at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q4877490

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)