Description

LANCASTER

SD4761NW CASTLE PARK
1685-1/6/53 (South side)
22/12/53 No.20
Castle Park House
(Formerly Listed as:
CASTLE PARK
No.20
(with stables))

GV II*

House. 1720, altered C19. Built for William Birdsworth, a
lawyer, and his wife Margaret. Sandstone rubble with ashlar
dressings, roughcast on the front elevation and lined out as
ashlar blocks between chamfered quoins. Slate roof with a
small flat-roofed dormer, and gable chimney stacks.
3 storeys above cellar and attics and 5 bays, with a central
square projection at the rear to contain the staircase. All
the windows have moulded architraves and 8-pane sashes. Above
the central first-floor window is a datestone inscribed: BW+M
1720. The elaborate painted stone doorcase has engaged Ionic
columns supporting a pulvinated frieze, an entablature with
dentils, and a segmental open pediment, panelled both in its
soffit and its tympanum. Its door has 12 raised and fielded
panels, and is recessed between similarly panelled reveals.
INTERIOR: entrance hall has marble floor. Double-depth room to
left has very good painted raised and fielded panelling with
Corinthian pilasters. Right-hand room has similar unpainted
panelling, but with Ionic pilasters. The room was probably
altered in the C19 when a front cloakroom was created and the
rear wall extended. The first floor is divided conventionally
and has similar panelling with Doric pilasters. The second
floor has a matching dado which is said to be a C19
alteration. The fine dogleg staircase rises to attic level and
has full-height panelling until the half-landing above the
first floor and thereafter a panelled dado. It has an open
string with carved scrolled brackets, 2 turned balusters per
tread, and a ramped handrail.
HISTORY: built by William Birdsworth, a lawyer, and
subsequently owned by Allan Harrison, the Recorder of
Lancaster between 1731 and 1747, who probably added the
doorcase and made many of the internal alterations, including
the link with No.22 (qv) to the left. His daughter and
heiress, Ann, married Lt. Col. George Wilson, the builder of
Abbot Hall, Kendal. The house was owned by the Satterthwaite
family from c1780 to 1932.

Listing NGR: SD4738361754

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17531519

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

• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)