Astwell Castle

Astwell Castle is a manor house dating back to the 15th century, with significant additions and alterations in the early 17th century and a restoration in 1958. Constructed of coursed squared limestone with a plain tile roof, and brick ridge stacks, it comprises a gatehouse of a former courtyard house and a double-depth house.

The entrance front features a three-storey gatehouse to the right, with a partly blocked chamfered doorway bearing a 4-centred head and a timber tympanum with ribbed panels, displaying the date 1638. Above this is a single, two-light stone arch mullion window with cusped lights to both the first and second floors, the first-floor window having a hood mould. A battlemented parapet runs along the top, supported by a string course. A turret rises the full height of the building to the left, and a second-floor window replicates those on the front. The rear elevation mirrors the front, with a similar window and blocked doorway. A hexagonal stair turret rises above the rest of the building in the left corner, incorporating a blocked first-floor door with a 4-centred head. A single-storey link building to the left of the gatehouse has a flat-arched doorway, a quatrefoil window to the right, and a battlemented parapet. The main house to the left stands two storeys high with an attic. A 20th-century stone doorway with a 4-centred head is situated to the left, alongside a two-light stone mullion window. A four-light arch mullion window with cut spandrels and hood moulds is positioned on the ground floor far right, with a similar window above it on the first floor, alongside matching three-light windows within twin stone-coped gables featuring kneelers. A blocked window sits above the entrance door on the first floor. The left side of the building showcases two three-light arch mullion windows with hood moulds to both ground and first floors and a blocked central door with a moulded stone surround and keyblock. The rear elevation exhibits a five-light leaded 20th-century casement window on the ground floor, and two- and three-light casements to the first and attic floors, all with timber lintels. A massive stone stack with four diagonal brick flues distinguishes the left range.

Internally, chamfered spine beams and stone fireplaces are notable features, one of which is painted to resemble Purbeck marble, with molded jambs, cut spandrels, strapwork, and a low stone overmantel displaying the arms of the Lovetts and the Shirleys. The fortified manor house to which the gatehouse belonged was likely built by Thomas Lovett, who acquired Astwell in 1471. Following marriage of Lovett’s daughter to Francis Shirley, their son George Shirley demolished most of the medieval manor house and constructed a new house adjacent to the gatehouse, completed in 1606. The estate was sold to Earl Temple of Stowe in 1763, at which point Astwell became a tenant farm, and much of the house was demolished. A restoration was carried out in 1958 for Mrs. Joan Wake.