Castle Close And Wall To Left

Castle Close and the wall to the left are a house and wall built in the early to mid 19th century, part of the estate village of Sir William Amcotts Ingilby. The building is made of coursed squared gritstone with a Westmorland slate roof. It has two storeys and features three bays across the front, with a lower bay to the left. The wall adjacent to the house is approximately 2.5 metres high and 10 metres long.

The house is designed in the Gothick style and has a plinth. There are three steps leading up to a central four-panel door, with the upper two panels featuring trefoil heads. The door has interlaced glazing bars in the pointed overlight and a pointed-arched head with a double chamfer decorated with flower heads in relief. The chamfers end in shields with the Ingilby star in relief at the impost level. All the windows are pointed sashes with interlaced glazing bars, and they have two-piece arched lintels with a star motif at the impost level, similar to the doorway. Square hoodmoulds are present over all openings, and there is a moulded eaves cornice and a shallow blocking course. The roof is hipped and has four octagonal-flue corniced end stacks.

The wall is crenellated and features flat coping stones. Sir William's father, Sir John, who died in 1815, was responsible for the rebuilding of Ripley Castle. Sir William incorporated flower motifs, the Ingilby star, two-piece lintels, and window designs from the pedestrian entrance to the gatehouse and the windows of the north (coach-house) range of the castle into several houses in the village. Vale Lodge is identical, while Birchwood Farmhouse and Horngarth differ only in chimney positions, and Star House and Cottage share the same design.