Skelton Castle

Skelton Castle is a country house built around 1770, significantly altered and extended between 1810 and 1817 by Ignatius Bonomi, with further extensions added in the mid-to-late 19th century. The house incorporates the remains of a medieval castle belonging to the de Brus family. Constructed from dressed sandstone with tooled margins, it features shallow-pitched, hipped roofs covered in Lakeland slate and prominent corniced stacks.

The south front, dating from the early 19th century, presents a symmetrical façade of two storeys and five bays. The central bay projects slightly, resembling a small barbican, with a battered plinth, a segmental-headed doorway, panelled doors, and embattled bartizans at the corners. Sash windows with glazing bars are present, with a hoodmould over the central window. An embattled parapet tops the front, including machicolations over the central bay.

The west front, originally dating to around 1770, is three storeys high with a basement, divided into two parts. To the right are seven bays, with a slightly projecting central bay that contains a mid-to-late 19th century external dogleg staircase and a full-length sash window on the ground floor. Blocked basement windows are present, two with chamfered mullions and iron bars. Sashes with glazing bars, some renewed, are found on the first floor. The left side features eight bays framed by three-stage turrets and a slightly projected fourth bay. Two chamfered mullioned basement windows are blocked, and sashes with renewed glazing bars are found on the first floor. A canted bay window with an embattled parapet is on the first bay of the west front. Quatrefoil and cross-arrowloop ornaments are incorporated into the turrets, and an embattled parapet crowns the entire façade.

Single and two-storey service wings enclose a courtyard and adjoin the north end of the west wing, all in a similar style. A two-storey wing incorporating the remains of a medieval chapel is attached to the rear of the west wing. Angle buttresses are found at the south-east angle, and traces remain of a blocked pointed full-height window, now accommodating a late 16th-century window with double-chamfered, mullioned-and-transomed, ten-lights and casements with leaded lights. A window in the gable above has a trefoil head and a sash window with geometric glazing bars.

Mid-to-late 19th century extensions extend from the north and east sides of the core structure. A two-storey gatehouse, located to the east of the entrance front, features Tudor-arched openings with boarded double doors on both the north and south sides. A tripartite opening is on each face of the first floor, with louvres and a continuous hoodmould. An embattled parapet includes clock faces on the north and south sides. A single-storey stable wing, with an embattled parapet and ornamental arrow loops on the south side, connects the gatehouse to the entrance front.

The interior is largely uninspected but is rumoured to contain a 17th-century staircase with barley-sugar balusters within the medieval wing, a flying staircase by Bonomi with an iron balustrade featuring an anthemion motif, and 18th-century door surrounds and chimney pieces throughout.

The castle is surrounded by a dry moat, which was dammed in the 19th century at the south-east end to create an ornamental lake.