Hayton Castle

Hayton Castle, now a house, originated as a 14th or 15th century tower, with later additions from the 16th and 17th centuries for the Musgrave family. The construction uses large blocks of dressed red sandstone, topped with a stone parapet resting on a chamfered plinth, and features a graduated greenslate roof with sandstone chimney stacks. The building is two stories high with an attic and comprises eight bays of double span. The original tower forms the rear portion, with 16th-century extensions creating an L-shape; the corner of this "L" was infilled in the 17th century to form a large rectangular building. A late 17th-century panelled door is set within a bolection architrave under a segmental pediment featuring carved heads and an urn with shaped finials. The left bays incorporate 16th-century double-chamfered cross-mullioned windows with glazing bars under hoodmoulds, with smaller 3-light attic windows above. The right bays have sash windows within late 17th-century architraves. The left return includes a plank door within a 20th-century wooden porch, with windows in 16th-century surrounds under hoodmoulds; some windows retain cross mullions and glazing bars. The right return also features sash windows in late 17th-century architraves. The rear elevation has four gables, with the oldest part supported by two large wedge-shaped buttresses. Windows from the 15th to 17th centuries are set at varying levels, some also under hoodmoulds. A coat-of-arms is visible on the left side wall, and an internal armorial panel on the stairs is dated 1609, both relating to the Musgrave family. The thick internal walls contain numerous medieval and 16th-century features, details of which are fully described and planned in the Transactions of Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, new series, xiii, pp.234-243.