Callaly Castle

CALLALY CASTLE

Country house, later subdivided into apartments in 1987. Dating from the 14th century with major subsequent additions: works of 1676 by Robert Trollope, various alterations in the 15th century, and major additions of 1890 by Mr Stephenson of Berwick. Built for the Clavering family and, from 1877, for the Browne family.

Constructed in dressed stone and ashlar with Welsh slate roofs. The building is very large and irregular in plan, probably originally of hall and cross-wing arrangement but now presenting a classical character overall.

The south front rises three storeys and displays a central five-bay section with projecting wings in a 2:5:1 bay arrangement. The centre, likely an older hall range remodelled by Trollope in 1676, features a central doorway with Corinthian columns and multi-moulded surround beneath a Tudor-arched lintel inscribed RMC for Ralph and Mary Clavering. Above this stands a large, finely carved coat of arms of Ralph Clavering within a frame of strapwork, with a dated sundial in an ornamental frame above. The flanking windows are positioned very close to the door. All windows display multi-moulded surrounds, pulvinated oak-leaf friezes and open pediments framing trophies, dolphins and similar ornaments. Twelve-pane sashes with thick glazing bars light the front. The top cornice and parapet, added in 1749, have cut off the second-floor pediments. The projecting wing to the left was originally a pele tower with walls 7 feet thick, refaced in ashlar in 1749 with sash windows set in architraves. The west wall of this wing was rebuilt circa 1840. A dated sundial appears in the parapet. The projecting wing to the right is dated 1707 and features windows in architraves with finely detailed wedge lintels and a Clavering coat of arms in the parapet, though the masonry appears older, with walls 4 feet thick and old stonework visible in the east wall, as evidenced by the morning room interior.

The east front is divided into two sections. The left section rises three storeys over six bays and features a slightly projecting ashlar centre of 1750 with a Venetian doorway and two Venetian windows above. Older masonry appears to the left of the door, with twelve-pane sash windows, mostly retaining thick glazing bars in flat raised surrounds. To the right of this section lies the ballroom and museum wing, a large addition of 1890 executed as an exact copy of the detailing of the Trollope building.

The west or central front comprises three elements: the former tower projecting to the right, a projecting wing of 1836 heightened and altered in 1893 to the left, and a four-bay centre. A doorway squeezed into the corner on the right is dated 1727 and displays a Gibbs surround with a keystone carved with Clavering arms and an angel, surmounted by a decorative finial. A slightly later Venetian window with thick glazing bars sits above. Ground and first-floor windows are replacements of 1836 in raised surrounds. The second floor retains original narrower windows in moulded surrounds, with the centre window carved with foliage. The north wall of the right wing (the rear of the tower and Trollope wing) contains a blocked early 18th-century two-storey, three-bay loggia with round arches of Vanbrughian character. The roofs are irregular, hipped and gabled with numerous corniced stacks.

Interior

The drawing room is the principal apartment, elaborately redecorated by Italian Stuccatori in the Rococo style in 1757, possibly under the direction of James Paine. The room rises through two storeys beneath a coved ceiling and features balconies at each end supported by marble Tuscan columns with balustrades in Chinese Chippendale style incorporating Gothick centre panels.

The staircase, dating from circa 1720-30, features turned balusters and square knobs, lit by a Venetian window with Corinthian detailing. The smoking room was redecorated circa 1840 in French style with a marble fireplace and niches, and displays a Clavering crest in the ceiling. The front hall contains a screen of two fluted columns with elliptical arches. A late Victorian pavilion features cast-iron balconies and a four-storey cast-iron spiral staircase. Two pieces of Elizabethan panelling, discovered behind early 18th-century panelling in 1934, are now preserved in the pavilion.

The late 19th-century north wing does not achieve the architectural quality of the remainder of the building.