Black Castle Public House

Black Castle Public House

A sham castle and office, now a public house, built between 1745 and 1755, probably designed by either William Halfpenny or James Bridges for William Reeve as pleasure rooms and offices. It stands on Junction Road in Brislington, Bristol.

The building is constructed from pre-cast black copper-slag blocks from Reeve's foundry at Crew's Hole, combined with Pennant rubble, brickwork and freestone dressings, beneath a pantile roof. It is executed in the Gothick style.

The structure follows a symmetrical plan with corner towers linked by two-storey blocks to form a square courtyard. Two larger entrance towers occupy the front and back.

The entrance front features a two-storey entrance tower with a pointed archway through it, originally containing sexpartite vaulting and now fitted with twentieth-century doors. Above this is a blank panel with an ogee head, and a second-floor opening with a two-centre arch displaying perpendicular tracery, topped by a crenellated parapet with sunken panels. Two-window ranges flank each side, containing similar openings with Y-tracery, a string course and carved inset panels, beneath crenellated parapets. The two-storey corner towers feature wooden two-centred arched doorways and flushwork panels shaped like arrow slits; the left-hand tower retains eighteenth-century brickwork to the ground floor and has a recent brick buttress. A plain twentieth-century extension projects from the left-hand elevation. A coach house extends forward at right angles from the right-hand turret, with a central two-centre archway at front and back, similar smaller windows either side, and round flush panels above the string course. The crenellated parapet rises above the archway.

Within the courtyard, the entrance tower mirrors its external appearance. Facing it stands a larger tower with diagonal buttresses and a moulded arched doorway contained within a larger archway bearing a scrolled cartouche. Above are a coat of arms and a head of Henry VIII. The second floor displays two pointed windows with Y-tracery, a cornice, decorated crenellations and corner pinnacles, with smaller turrets on either side. The courtyard walls flanking the towers contain single Y-tracery windows, whilst the side walls display similar openings in four-window ranges with a central doorway, decorated with worn terms and carved pediment panels above. A plat band runs continuously around the courtyard beneath a crenellated parapet. The rear round towers replicate those at the front.

The interior includes a former chapel on the second floor of the main tower, featuring a shallow barrel vault with decorated plaster panels, a corner fireplace and three-light traceried side windows. Other internal carved decorations, including carved heads, are visible above inserted ground-floor ceilings.

The building was constructed for William Reeve of Arno's Court, utilising material from his copper works at Crew's Hole. Much of the freestone carving and dressings are reported to derive from demolished medieval gateways of the city and from St Werburgh's Church, which was rebuilt by James Bridges in 1758–61. This represents a very early example of the Gothick style in Britain, and has been described as "the best of all the early fake castles in Britain" owing to its extremely successful massing and variety from all viewpoints.