Bowes Castle

Bowes Castle is a Grade I listed keep with foundations of a forebuilding to the east, constructed around 1171-87 by Richard the engineer for King Henry II. The castle features a core of sandstone rubble faced with ashlar and incorporates some Roman masonry. It has a square plan and stands two storeys high, with a ruinous third storey.

The exterior includes a double-chamfered plinth, projecting corners on each face, and a broad flat central buttress with set-back wall panels between. There is a fragmentary roll-moulded band above the first floor.

On the east front, the remains of the forebuilding feature a triple-chamfered plinth to the north. The first-floor round-arched north doorway has set-back voussoirs and is flanked by small round-arched openings. The south-east corner has slits and contains a partly reconstructed spiral stair.

The south front includes a first-floor round-arched hall window of two orders, with the inner order being chamfered, to the east, and several round-headed loops to the west. The badly damaged west front reveals exposed mural passages and a first-floor garderobe chute to the south, with a projecting section at the foot of the chute featuring two round-arched openings and fragmentary large windows to the north.

On the north front, there is a large round-headed first-floor window with set-back rounded jambs. The interior of the ground floor has several springers for destroyed rib vaults, and the north-east corner once contained a first-floor kitchen with a fireplace and a simple flue leading out through the north wall.

Bowes Castle is also a Scheduled Ancient Monument.