Broughton Castle and attached walls

Broughton Castle and attached walls

Fortified manor house with moated core dating to the 13th and 14th centuries, remodelled in the 15th, 16th and 18th centuries, with 19th-century restoration by George Gilbert Scott and further restoration in the 20th century.

The building presents a complex plan containing a chapel, kitchen, offices, great hall and living quarters arranged over two storeys with attic accommodation. The structure consists of six bays built in regularly coursed ironstone rubble with a stone slate roof and stone lateral and end stacks, including a central stack dated 1554.

The north front was remodelled around 1550 by Richard Fiennes in Italianate style. Two entrances are provided: one leads into a crenellated 16th-century extension to the left, whilst the other doorway is concealed at the side of a bay window to the right. Two two-storey bay windows flank an oriel window to the first floor, which features fluted Ionic and Corinthian columns. The fenestration is scattered and includes stone mullioned and transomed windows, with fake windows to the west bay window, 18th-century round-headed windows with intersecting glazing bars, and a two-light Decorated chapel window. The attic storey is gabled with stone coping.

The south front comprises two storeys plus attic with little attempt at symmetry. Two doorways are present: a pointed arched doorway to the right has a plank door, whilst a square-headed doorway occupies the left side. The fenestration is scattered and includes stone mullioned windows with hood moulds and label stops, stone mullioned and transomed windows, round-headed windows with wooden mullions and transoms, and pointed arched windows with Gothick glazing bars. Two gabled staircase projections with a lateral stack between them dominate the south front. To the right stands a small gabled 16th-century garderobe and a battlemented tower of three storeys with gargoyles and slits. The solar wing contains a two-light 14th-century window on the first floor, and 14th-century buttresses are visible.

The east front rises to three storeys and features gargoyles and slits. A two-light 14th-century window lights the first floor of the solar wing, and 14th-century buttresses are visible. The chapel is lit by a three-light Geometrical window, with two traceried square-headed windows and a two-light Geometrical window also present.

The west front was formerly the kitchen wing, remodelled and extended in the 16th century. It comprises two storeys with large stone mullioned and transomed windows, a parapet and hipped roof to the right.

The interior layout preserves a 14th-century plan originally comprising a great hall and kitchens and offices at the west end, with living quarters on three floors at the east end, including a first-floor solar and chapel over a vaulted undercroft. The 16th-century remodelling reversed this arrangement: the former kitchen became living rooms, a new kitchen was built at the east end of the solar block, and three floors were built above the hall with a flat ceiling inserted.

The west wing contains a Drawing Room or Oak Room dating to circa 1598 in Flemish Renaissance style, built upon the foundations of the 14th-century kitchens. This room features oak panelling and an interior porch with cartouche. A stone fireplace displays a triglyph frieze, pilasters and floral reliefs. A small room to the west of the Hall, now the Library, was remodelled around the 1760s in Gothick style.

The great hall dates to the 14th century and measures 58.5 feet by 28.5 feet, arranged in four bays. The ceiling is decorated with 18th-century work probably by Sanderson Miller. Blocked doorways, including two to the pantry and buttery, are visible. A four-centred 16th-century doorway with plank door accesses the hall. A stone fireplace is present. Two small pointed arched doorways with plank doors lead to quadripartite vaulted passages: one to the chapel and the other to the solar wing. A 14th-century stone newel stair ascends to the solar, whilst a straight flight of stone leads to the chapel with rib vaulting above.

The undercroft to the solar now serves as a dining room and contains three bays of quadripartite vaulting with chamfered ribs springing from moulded corbels. Linenfold panelling and a stone fireplace date to circa 1540. The chapel undercroft, now the kitchen, comprises two bays of quadripartite vaulting with chamfered ribs and carved bosses. A high pointed arched window to the east has been cut to contain a doorway. The former open courtyard to the east of the chapel was enclosed in the 15th century and now contains a 1970 stone staircase designed by Fletcher and Watson. Fifteenth-century kitchens lie to the east of the solar wing.

The first floor contains a White Room in the west wing featuring an ornate plaster ceiling dated 1559 and inscribed REF for Richard and Elizabeth Fiennes. Carved doorcases and dado by George Gilbert Scott date to circa 1867.

The Long Gallery was remodelled in Gothick style around 1760. The Star Chamber opens off the Long Gallery and contains an important stone fireplace with a carved stucco overmantel dated circa 1554. The central panel depicts dryads dancing around an oak with an inscription from Ovid beneath, showing influence from the Fontainebleau School. The 16th-century ceiling features plaster ribs, rosettes and a frieze of vines and pomegranates. Eighteenth-century Chinese hand-painted wallpaper is present.

Queen Anne's Room contains a stone fireplace built by Richard Fiennes around 1551, with a squint to the chapel in the north-east corner. The chapel, constructed around 1331, measures 17.5 feet by 10.75 feet across two storeys and is noted as a rare example of an unaltered 14th-century private chapel. An original stone altar slab is mounted on stone brackets. Three squints provide views of the altar, and the piscina recess has an ogee head. Medieval floor tiles remain in place. The Council Chamber at the top of the west stair was used as a meeting place between 1629 and 1640.