Lumley Castle

Lumley Castle is a large castle, dating from the 14th century, with substantial alterations made around 1570-80 and in 1721 by Sir John Vanbrugh. It now operates as a hotel and is situated within Lumley Park, Little Lumley. The castle has a quadrangular plan, comprising four ranges around a courtyard with four angle towers, and a further three ranges around a service court to the north. The building is constructed of dressed and ashlar sandstone with pantiled roofs and stone chimneys.

The ranges and towers are mostly three stories high, with crenellations, and are diagonally buttressed. The towers also feature octagonal turrets. The south and west elevations exhibit fenestration dating to around 1721, while the north and east sides retain some original openings. A central gatehouse is situated on the east range, incorporating square towers. The south range features a round-arched, rusticated door surround, and the north range includes scattered sash windows. The five-bay west range features a stone stairway leading to a wide perron, with a central doorway within an architrave, flanked by sash windows and five bullseye windows above. A wooden clock tower sits on the ridge of this range. The roofs are steeply pitched, with ridge stacks. The courtyard ranges have early 18th-century round-arched doorways and sash windows. The west (hall) range features polygonal towers and 18 shields, believed to date from after 1577. A 1721 extension includes a Venetian stair window on the south range.

The ranges surrounding the service court are single-story and have cross windows, chamfered doorways, and 20th-century dormers facing the courtyard. They too have steeply pitched roofs. A double mounting block is located in the centre of the service court.

The interior includes a vaulted medieval ground floor with pointed doorways and "jewel stairs" within the towers. The hall in the west range retains three doorways behind a screen and features a roughly 1570 classical stone fireplace. A two-story kitchen, within the north-west tower, has three fireplaces. The north-east tower contains a subdivided rib-vaulted chapel with 18th-century Gothick features. The north range has a first-floor corridor and subdivided bedrooms with 17th-century wainscoting. Sir John Vanbrugh designed a library, located on the ground floor of the south-west tower, featuring three groin-vaulted aisles and rusticated piers. Ground and first-floor rooms on the south range were also planned by Vanbrugh. State rooms, decorated around 1730-45, boast elaborate Palladian and Baroque plasterwork, along with fine panelling, doorcases, and chimneypieces. The Garter Room, likely created around 1745 and possibly by Pietro La Francini, is particularly outstanding.