Brancepeth Castle

Brancepeth Castle

This is a castle first mentioned in 1216, rebuilt around 1398 for Ralph Neville, and extensively reconstructed between 1818 and 1821 by John Patterson for Matthew Russell. Internal alterations were carried out in 1829 and between 1864 and 1875 by Anthony Salvin.

The castle is constructed of dressed medieval masonry and early 19th-century diagonally-tooled ashlar, with lead-sheathed and felted roofs. It consists of a large irregular circular courtyard enclosed by a curtain wall and ranges of buildings.

The principal structures, described in clockwise order, are: a gatehouse at the north-east; Westmorland tower at the east; Constable tower at the south-east; an L-plan range on the south and west including Neville and Bulmer towers near the south-west corner; and a north section of curtain wall with two watch towers returning to the gatehouse. The four above-named towers, an unnamed tower in the angle between Neville and Bulmer towers, and considerable sections of the curtain wall are medieval. The remainder, including the gatehouse and ranges inside the curtain wall, is early 19th-century in a mix of Norman and Gothic styles.

The 19th-century windows are mainly round-arched or of several lights under hoodmoulds, except where otherwise noted. The curtain wall features restored continuous battlements, some corbelled out. The two- and three-storey rectangular-plan medieval towers have offset stages and diagonal buttresses surmounted by turrets. Constable and Westmorland towers are lower and were altered in the early 19th century. A late 15th-century two-light window and a 17th-century cross window appear on the tower in the angle between Neville and Bulmer towers. The north section of curtain wall has a parapet walk and two square-plan, battlemented watch towers at angles; the north-west tower was rebuilt in the 19th century.

The gatehouse is a massive three-storey structure with an archway flanked by battered round towers. An early 19th-century tower on the south and Hamilton tower on the west are in a similar style to the medieval towers. Three- and four-storey linking ranges on the south, west and inside of the curtain wall are also similar in treatment. The Flagstaff tower, a tall narrow structure above a porte-cochere facing the gatehouse inside the courtyard, was heightened around 1870. Low-pitched roofs are hidden by battlements.

Interior

Neville and Bulmer towers contain tunnel-vaulted basements with round-arched and pointed vaults, and groin-vaulted principal chambers above. Early 19th-century main rooms feature Neo-Norman decoration. The Entrance Hall contains ornate plaster imitating a medieval timber roof. A huge semi-octagonal staircase hall features a cantilevered staircase, starting in one flight and returning in two, with a ribbed domed ceiling and central skylight. The six-bay Armour Gallery has quadripartite rib vaults. The chapel in Westmorland Tower was reconstructed in Gothic style in the mid-19th century, possibly by Salvin, and contains a vaulted wood roof and elaborate decoration including mosaics, a reredos and a triforium at the west end.

Early 19th-century painted glass in neo-Norman style appears in the vestibule of the Armour Gallery, depicting an Earl of Westmorland and his wife. A similar fragment depicting the Battle of Neville's Cross, now in storage, was designed by Charles Muss and probably made by William Collins of the Strand.

A tall single-storey mid-20th-century rendered addition on the south outer face of the curtain wall, to the west of Constable tower, is not of particular interest.