Caverswall Castle, Screen Walls, Gatehouse And Bridge

Caverswall Castle, Screen Walls, Gatehouse and Bridge

Castle, later country house. Built on 13th-century foundations, with superstructure dating to circa 1615, the later work attributed to Robert and John Smythson. The building was enlarged, altered and refitted circa 1890.

The castle is constructed of red sandstone ashlar in a castellated, supra-vernacular style with anticipations of Bolsover and echoes of Longleat, presenting a character reminiscent of Castle Drogo by Lutyens. The main roof is flat and largely hidden behind crenellated parapets with multishafted 19th-century side stacks. The gatehouse and angle towers have tiled roofs and balustraded parapets.

The single-fronted house follows a truncated version of the Slingsby plan and facade, with symmetry disrupted by the absence of an eastern stair tower. The 1890 additions partially fill this vacancy, leading on to the gatehouse. The facade rises three storeys above a raised plinth containing cellars that are only partly below ground level. Horizontal stone bands mark ceiling levels up to the crenellated parapets. All three levels are fenestrated by five 3-light windows with chamfer mullion and transom details. The outer windows are slightly inset from the extremities and formed into full-height 3-sided bays with matching 2-light windows to the angled sides. The central entrance features a small, understated single-storey 3-sided porch with balustered parapet and part-glazed 19th-century doors.

A square stair tower projects from the west side of the front, rising a further storey. It is banded only under the parapet and fenestrated at that level by a 3-light mullioned window with further 2-light windows rising with the stairs. The 19th-century eastern wing rises two storeys, slightly set back and of similar style with two windows, the left-hand being a bay. The right-hand first-floor window has a panel inscribed "MDCCCXCI".

The house sits at the north side of a square retaining enclosure surrounded by an excavated moat, which opens out to lower ground level on the west. The lower walls of this enclosure, approximately 9 metres high, appear to be the only surviving remnant of the medieval castle; the stonework above garden level is homogenous with the 1615 house. The walls rise to plain parapets set at garden level, with octagonal towers at all but the northern corner. These towers rise two storeys above inner garden level, approximately four storeys from the moat floor, with pyramidal roofs, balustraded parapets and 2-light mullioned windows on most facets at the upper two storeys.

The gatehouse, of similar style to the main house, stands on the east side attached to the angle of the 19th-century wing. It is fronted with two 3-sided bay turrets flanking an entranceway with rounded 2-centred arches, the inner face being flush. The gatehouse leads to a bridge of two round arches with 19th-century balustrade set on a corbelled band.

Interior of the main house: Entry is via a screens passage with the hall opening to the left through a round arch with carved figures. All walls are panelled. Two round arch doorways (mimicking medieval layout) stand at the far end, with a fireplace to the north (inner) side. The overmantel incorporates 17th-century elements but was heavily remodelled and enriched during the 19th-century restoration. The room features ovolo-moulded beams and joists.

The stairway is entered through one of the rear hall doors (the other being a blind dummy), rising in straight flights. This is a 19th-century restoration with lions and unicorns on newels and vase balusters.

The Dining Room contains three 17th-century low relief panels of hunting scenes reset in a 19th-century overmantel, along with late 17th or early 18th-century panelling.

The Library features early 18th-century panelling, 19th-century strapwork, a plaster ceiling and a 17th-century overmantel with low relief carvings of fruit.

The First Floor Billiard Room, set over the hall, displays elaborate 19th-century plasterwork.

The cellar comprises a collection of plain, unadorned service rooms.