Kirtling Tower

Kirtling Tower is a Grade I gatehouse built around 1530 for Lord North, who lived from approximately 1496 to 1564. The house was rebuilt around 1872 by architect J.A. Hansom. The structure features red brick with a black diaper brick pattern and limestone dressings. The tower has a flat leaded roof, while the house has steeply pitched slate roofs with a gable parapet on the east side.

The gatehouse stands three storeys tall, with the main south entrance blocked and the ground floor incorporated into the design of the 19th-century house. The house is two storeys at the rear of the tower, extending double pile to the east and west. The gatehouse is adorned with four octagonal corner turrets that rise above an embattled parapet, featuring two-light, four-centred arched windows. The two larger turrets flank the original entrance, which has a four-centred arch that has been infilled with a 19th-century three-lancet-light window.

Above this entrance is a fine two-storey limestone oriel window, which is segmental in plan and has an enriched frieze, with mullioned and transomed windows that feature vertical lines continued in blind panels. There is also a lateral stack with two shafts. The 19th-century house includes details similar to those of the gatehouse, with three first-floor and two ground-floor mullioned and transomed windows. A closed, embattled porch is located at the angle of the house, featuring a boarded and studded door in a four-centred arch, approached by stone steps.

Inside, there is an oak newel stair leading to the tower, along with original doors and four-centred arched doorways. The house contains 19th-century details, including a good staircase. The original hall remained until 1801 and was visited by Queen Elizabeth I in 1578. This site was originally part of a moated Saxon Castle owned by King Harold.