Ford Castle

FORD FORD CASTLE NT 9437 17/87 Ford Castle 21/9/51 GV I

Country house, now field study centre. C14 (licence to crenellate 1338), converted into mansion 1694, given Gothick detail 1761 by George Raffield for Sir John Hussey Deleval. Restored to C17 style, new north wall added and altered internally from 1862 by David Bryce for Louisa, Marchioness of Waterford. Mainly ashlar, medieval work squared stone; stone slate and graduated Lakeland slate roofs. Originally a quadrilateral castle with 4 corner towers; three of these survive but one is now detached (see the Flagpole Tower, item 17/88). Present house E-plan, 3 storeys plus attics. 5-bay centre with projecting porch tower; projecting wings with 4-storey, one-bay stair towers in re-entrant angles. Rusticated basement. Steps up to 2-leaf door. 2-light mullioned windows in basement, cross windows above. Wings have large 4- and 5-light mullioned-and-transomed windows on ground floor. 4-light window above door. C18 modillion cornice and castellated parapet. Gabled roofs with tall diagonally-set stacks of several conjoined shafts.

Left return has C18 masonry to right, medieval masonry in centre and C14 King James' Tower to left with blocked arched window on 1st floor and irregular C19 openings.

Rear facade has King James' Tower to right with original slit window in sub- basement, blocked window above. The centre is by Bryce with consciously irregular Gothic openings including to the right a stone balcony on large stone brackets and in the centre a large oriel on 4 huge brackets. Tower to left has old masonry with C18 quoins, perhaps a reconstruction of the late C18?

Interior: King James' Tower has vaulted basement approached by stairs in thickness of wall with 2-centred arched doorways top and bottom. Pointed tunnel vault with 5 square-section transverse ribs. Walls 15 ft. thick at this level, 8 ft. thick above. On 1st floor 2 pointed-arched doorways, a C16 or C17 ceiling with stop-chamfered main beam and square close-set joists and a stone fireplace with Tudor-arched lintel and moulded surround. On 2nd floor a Gothic room of 1862; mural stair between these floors. In the angle of the east wing a restored 016 newel stair with a fragment of earlier stair in the wall beside it. Elsewhere in the house seven C16 or Cl7 stone fireplaces, one of granite with a bold incised curve in the lintel. Good Arts-and-Crafts-style doors throughout inserted by Lord Joicey, 1907.

Country Life: Vol. 89 ( l941)

Listing NGR: NT9441637541