Lumley Castle

LITTLE LUMLEY LUMLEY PARK NZ 25 SE 4/44 Lumley Castle 4/6/52 I

Large castle and 3 ranges around service court; now an hotel. Licences to crenellate 1382 and 1392; altered c.1570-80, and 1721 by Sir John Vanbrugh. Early C18 service court. Dressed and ashlar sandstone, pantiled roofs and stone chimneys. Quadrangular plan: 4 ranges round courtyard with 4 angle towers; 3 ranges round service court on north. Hall in west range.

Partly-refaced 3-storey ranges and 4-storey towers with crenellations. Diagonally-buttressed towers with octagonal turrets. Ranges and towers have c.1721 fenestration on south and west; some original openings on north and east. Central gatehouse with square towers on 7-bay east range. Round-arched rusticated door surround on 5-bay south range. Scattered sashes on north range. 5-bay west range: stone stairway to wide perron; central doorway in architrave with flanking sashes and 5 oeils-de-boeuf above; wood clock tower on ridge. Steeply-pitched roofs and ridge stacks. 3-storey ranges in courtyard: early C18 round-arched doorways and sashes; some original windows; gatehouse with square towers on east; gatehouse with polygonal towers and 18 post-1577 shields on west (hall) range; 1721 extension with Venetian stair window on south.

One-storey ranges round service court, with cross windows; chamfered doorways and C20 dormers facing courtyard; steeply-pitched roofs. Double mounting block in centre of service court.

Interior. Vaulted medieval ground floor with pointed doorways and jewel stairs in towers. Hall in west range retains 3 doorways behind screen and has c.1570 classical stone fireplace. 2-storey kitchen with 3 fireplaces in north-west tower. Subdivided rib-vaulted chapel with C18 Gothick features in north-east tower. First-floor corridor and subdivided bedrooms with C17 wainscoting in north range. Library by Vanbrugh with 3 groin-vaulted aisles and rusticated piers on ground-floor of south-west tower. South range: ground and first-floor rooms planned by Vanbrugh. State rooms, decorated c.1730-45 with elaborate Palladian and Baroque plasterwork, also have fine panelling, doorcases and chimneypieces (outstanding Garter Room c.1745 probably by Pietro La Francini).

(N. Pevsner revised E. Williamson, County Durham, 2nd. edition 1983).

Listing NGR: NZ2876851054