Witton Castle

Witton Castle is a castle that has been converted into a caravan site and leisure complex, with administration and club buildings. It likely dates from the late 14th century and received a licence to crenellate in 1410. The castle underwent partial demolition in the late 17th century and saw extensive alterations and additions in the late 18th and 19th centuries. The structure is built from coursed sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings and some quoins, though the roofs are not visible.

The main north range of the medieval castle features west extensions that create an enclosure for the service courtyard. The north range has two storeys and consists of eight bays, with a stair turret projection in the second bay and a full-height porch with a projecting porte-cochere in the fifth bay. The porte-cochere is adorned with double-chamfered flat two-centred arches, wide angle buttresses, a front corbel table, and a battlemented parapet. The porch has a Tudor-arched surround to the boarded door and features Decorated tracery in four-light windows, along with a battlemented parapet that includes stone figures of a buck and a doe.

The polygonal stair turret has three set-back stages with small chamfered lights, and it displays heraldic panels along with the date and initials HC 1881 beneath corbelled battlements. The windows in the other bays are varied in medieval and Tudor styles, some with dripmoulds, and all date from the 19th century. The bays flanking the porch project slightly, with the right bay featuring a tower adorned with figures on its battlements.

A corbelled external chimney stack rises from the ground floor between the two right bays, which have set-back stages. The right end angle turret has similar set-backs, as does the corresponding turret at the left end, which is adjacent to the west forecourt wall. There are square stone chimneys on the corbelled stack and to the left of the entrance bay, while an octagonal stone chimney sits on the front of the tower behind the porch, topped with a bronze fox weather-vane.

The west extensions include some Gothic-style openings, some of which are characteristic of the mid-19th century, and likely incorporate parts of the early north curtain wall. Inside the main range, the principal first-floor rooms feature Gothic panelling and window reveals, while the ground floor has a barrel-vaulted ceiling.