Torksey Castle

Torksey Castle is a country house, now a ruin, situated beside the Trent. It dates to around 1560. The west facade and part of the rear wall are the only parts that survive. The structure is built of coursed lias and limestone rubble, with red brick in English bond, ashlar dressings, and diaper work using blue brick headers. The remaining section is three stories and seven bays wide, with four single, facetted bays projecting to full height, originally taller than the three bays between, which were topped by crow-stepped gables, only the left-hand one of which now remains. The facade features a plinth, a moulded first-floor string course, and bands to the towers. The lowest storey is in stone, with irregular fenestration of single, two, and three-light windows. A section of the ground floor is missing, now supported by a later brick pier. Above the central bay are two corbelled-out chimney backs with moulded stone corbels, with a three-light window between them. To the left are two similar windows, one within a projecting tower. The furthermost projecting tower has a four-light window flanked by single windows on its facets. To the right, the first tower has single openings with hood moulds, the second has two-light windows with hood moulds to both the front face and facets; between them is a further three-light window. Remaining second-floor windows consist of two two-light windows in two of the gables, and two-light and single openings in three of the towers. All windows are stone, cross-mullioned, except for the windows in the gables. The interior wall displays two original fireplaces; one has a four-centred moulded arched surround with sunk spandrels, the other has flat lintels and a moulded ashlar surround with a slightly projecting ledge. Within a tower to the left of the central bay are sockets for a turning stair, emerging at first-floor level through a four-centred arched doorway. A broad four-centred arched kitchen fireplace exists at ground-floor level to the rear. At first floor, a four-centred arched fireplace with a moulded surround terminates in Tudor rose stops with foliated spandrels. The house was built by Sir Robert Jermyn and slighted during the Civil War. A drawing from 1793 by Nattes, held in the Banks collection, depicts the west facade of the ruin. It is also scheduled as an Ancient Monument.