Castle House

Castle House is a rectorial manor house of complex origins, with a 13th-century foundation that was substantially rebuilt, probably around 1654 for Thomas Appletree. The building was restored in 1894 by the architect Thomas Garner for H.R. Franklin, and extended in the early 20th century. It stands on the east side of the Bullring in Deddington.

The house is constructed of coursed squared marlstone and limestone with limestone-ashlar dressings, and has Stonesfield-slate roofs with ashlar stacks. Its complex plan is based on three adjoining towers arranged in depth.

The front elevation presents a striking composition of 2 storeys with three gables. The left bay projects as a full-height porch. The right bay contains a large 2-storey stone-mullioned bow window. The remaining two bays have 4-light stone-mullioned windows with labels at first-floor level. The main doorway, set beneath a segmental cornice, is Tudor-arched. The porch gable is finished with finials and projecting moulded kneelers. Most of this frontage probably dates from the 1894 restoration, though it represents a remodelling of a 17th-century range. To the left is a double-depth subsidiary range in similar style, set back from the main front, dating from around 1930.

Three towers occupy the rear of the main range. On the left stands a small 3-storey marlstone tower with a semi-basement. The two lower floors are 13th-century work; the upper floors date probably to the 17th century and feature a pitched roof with small mullioned windows. The central 4-storey stair tower projects further to the rear and is topped with a balustraded roof. It has large transomed stone-mullioned windows on three sides. The top storey is constructed of limestone ashlar, and the rear elevation is banded with limestone. Lead rainwater heads inscribed "A/TM/1654" indicate contemporary work. The third tower to the right is also 3 storeys and similarly banded to the rear. Its ashlar garden front, facing right, incorporates a wide full-height canted bay window with 9-light transomed stone-mullioned windows below moulded strings. A 4-light semi-basement window sits within the high moulded plinth. Much of this work was restored following a fire in 1925. Transomed windows in the rear wall, now mostly blocked, are probably original. The flat roof is finished with a plain parapet having moulded copings.

The interior retains exceptional historic features. The earliest tower contains a first-floor chapel, with 13th-century arcades in the north and west walls, each forming triple sedilia. The south wall has a roll-moulded piscina with a projecting bowl, now mutilated. The east wall features a 17th-century stone fireplace. The heavy chamfered door frame and door are also probably 17th-century. A fine wide oak dogleg stair retains original 17th-century work in its lower flights, with heavy turned balusters, fluted newels, ball finials, and a handrail of trefoil section. The ornamented closed string displays elaborate soffit cusping. The chamber tower contains three fine rooms, all finished with oak panelling, stop-chamfered beams, and restored fireplaces with panelled overmantels; the upper rooms are probably heavily restored. The main range includes 19th-century work: a barrel-vaulted plaster ceiling in a bedroom and a Jacobean-style plaster frieze in the porch room.

The house is traditionally said to have been visited by Charles I in 1644.