Workington Hall

NY 0028 WORKINGTON HALL BROW (East side) Workington

10/46 Workington Hall 6.6.51

G.V. I

Fortified tower house with various additions, now in ruins. Mid C14 with C15 and C16 alterations and additions; late 1783-1789 additions by John Carr for the Curwen family. Mixed large blocks of red and calciferous sandstone with additions of similar rubble stone, all without roofs; oldest parts on chamfered plinth. Rectangular 3-storey tower with adjoining L-shaped medieval wing reduced to single-storey and rebuilt as 3 storeys by Carr; also adjoined by C15 hall range of 2 storeys, 5 bays, all enclosing courtyard on 2 sides, the quadrangle completed by a medieval gatehouse tower and wing by Carr. Tower was extensively renovated by Carr but retains some original loops, internal spiral staircase and mural chambers. Late C18 round and flat-headed windows, all unglazed. Wing has projecting 3-storey garderobe turret and ground-floor loops; large first-floor late C18 round-headed window openings, those above in ruins. Late C18 canted bay window to left. Further right-angled kitchen range of similar details, with angle turret. Hall range has blocked windows and doorways of various dates; 2 ground-floor early C16 2-light windows and upper-floor C15 window. Inner wall has C15 doorways and blocked early C16 multi-light windows. 3-storey gatehouse has flanking guardrooms with angle turret to right, showing a number of small original chamfered-surround windows; the round-headed through archway and windows are late C18 alterations. Adjoining late C18 wing has similar flat-headed window openings. Ancestral home of the Curwen family who obtained a licence to crenellate in 1380 (the foundation stone for the tower is said to have been laid 8 May 1362) and owned by them until sold to the local council mid C20. After vandalisation the council reduced the building to a controlled ruin. See Tom Clare, Report on the Fortified Buildings of Cumbria, Cumbria County Council, 1983 (unpublished), appendix 3; Transactions Cumberland Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, old series, xvi, 1-15; J.F. Curwen, Castles & Towers, 1913, 244-7.

Listing NGR: NY0075628793