Description

NZ 61NE SKELTON & BROTTON MARSKE LANE
(off west side) Skelton

3/32 Skelton Castle
25.5.66
G.V. I

Country house, c.1770; altered, and extended to east and on north, south and
east sides of courtyard 1810-1817 by Ignatius Bonomi; other extensions
within courtyard mid/late C19. Incorporates remains of medieval castle of
de Brus family. Dressed sandstone with tooled margins. Shallow-pitched,
hipped, Lakeland slate roofs and corniced stacks. Early C19 entrance front
(south): 2 storeys, 5 bays. Middle bay projects slightly as quasi barbican,
with battered plinth, segmental-headed doorway, panelled doors and embattled
bartizans at angles. Sash windows with glazing bars; hoodmould to central
window. Embattled parapet, with machicolations to centre bay. West front
(c.1770): 3 storeys and basement, in 2 parts. 7 bays to right with
slightly-projecting centre bay behind mid/late C19 external dogleg
staircase, with flanking walls, leading to full-length sash window on ground
floor. Blocked basement windows, 2 to left with chamfered mullions and iron
bars. Sashes with glazing bars, altered and renewed on first floor.
Embattled parapet. 8 bays to left, framed by 3-stage turrets. Slightly-
projecting 4th bay. 2 blocked, chamfered mullioned basement windows; sashes
with glazing bars, renewed in first 4 bays on first floor. First bay has
canted ground-floor bay window with embattled parapet. Quatrefoil and
cross-arrowloop ornaments in turrets. Embattled parapets. Single and
2-storey service wings enclose the courtyard and adjoin north end of west
wing; all in similar style. 2-storey wing, incorporating remains of
medieval chapel, adjoins rear of west wing. Angle buttresses at south-east
angle; traces of blocked pointed full-height window in east side, now
holding c.1600 double-chamfered, mullioned-and-transomed, ten-light windows
with casements holding leaded lights. Window in gable above has trefoil
head and sash with geometric glazing bars. Mid/late C19 extensions adjoin
north and east sides. 2-storey gatehouse, to east of entrance front, has
Tudor-arched opening to north and south, with boarded double doors.
Tripartite opening in each face of first floor, with louvres and continuous
hoodmould. Embattled parapet has clock faces to north and south.
Single-storey stable wing, with embattled parapet and ornamental arrow loops
in south side, links the gatehouse with the entrance front. Interior not
inspected, but is said to contain C17 staircase with barley-sugar balusters,
in medieval wing; flying staircase by Bonomi, with iron balustrade having
anthemion motif; and C18 door surrounds and chimney pieces. Surrounded by
dry moat, dammed in C19 at south-east end to form ornamental lake.

Listing NGR: NZ6516819305

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Skelton Castle at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17529386

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

• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  For the Record
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)