Burton Chateau

This is a temple folly, built in 1747 by John Platt of Rotherham. It is constructed from red brick and limestone ashlar, with shallow hipped slate roofs and a tall ashlar stack to the rear. The building is rectangular, with smaller, lower rectangular projections to the north-east and south-west. It is two stories high, with a five-bay front, the central three bays projecting further forward.

The ground floor is rusticated, featuring a central doorway with a panelled door, flanked by two square sash windows with glazing bars on each side. The projecting north-east and south-west blocks have single, square dummy basement windows. A flat ashlar band sits above the basement, above which is a red brick first floor. The central three bays have ashlar Ionic pilasters, while the outer bays have plain pilasters to the corners. The central window is topped with a balustrade, an ornately moulded ashlar architrave, and a sash window with glazing bars. The bays either side of the central window also feature sash windows with glazing bars, framed by moulded ashlar architraves. Brick niches with ashlar architraves are set into the north-east and south-west faces of the projecting block. Above the central three bays is a moulded architrave, a pulvinated frieze, a modillioned cornice, and a brick parapet, with ornate urns on each corner. The outer, lower bays have an entablature with triglyphs and metopes, topped by a modillioned cornice, and urns on each corner. The north-east and south-west ends each have a single dummy window in the rusticated basement and a sash window above with a moulded ashlar architrave. The rear facade largely mirrors the front, except that the central doorway and window have been replaced by a brick niche with ashlar detailing.

John Platt was formerly an apprentice to his stonemason father, George Platt, who was responsible for designs at Cusworth Hall near Doncaster. A drawing of the Chateau, annotated “Built for T Hutton at Burton near Gainsbro [Lincolnshire] p. J Platt, 1747 and 1748”, is held within Sheffield Archives.