Snape Castle

Snape Castle

This castle, now divided into two houses, originated around 1430 and was largely reconstructed in the 16th century by Sir Thomas Cecil, with subsequent alterations during the 18th century. It is built of rubblestone and ashlar with lead roofs.

The building is rectangular in plan with a tower at each corner. All but the south side is now ruinous. A chapel projects to the south-east.

The north front features towers that rise almost to full height but lack internal floors. The eastern tower has lost almost all of its parapet and the south-west corner of its wall.

The south front comprises 9 bays with towers at each end. The left tower stands 3 storeys high, while the right tower rises to 4 storeys. Bays 2, 3, 4 and 5 are 2 storeys tall, and bays 6, 7 and 8 are 3 storeys. Bay 5 contains an early 18th-century round-headed panelled door flanked by pilasters in a flat-headed architrave with cornice. Above it is a swept-shouldered panel bearing a crest in a round architrave, surmounted by an 18-pane sash in an architrave with double keystones. Bay 2 projects forward as a first-floor oriel window with a sash featuring glazing bars in a chamfered surround. Bays 3 and 4 have 16-pane sashes in chamfered surrounds to the ground floor and 24-pane sashes in architraves with cills and double keystones above. Bays 6 and 7 contain tripartite sashes with chamfered surrounds to ground and first floors, with a 3-light mullion-and-transom window to the second floor of bay 6. An inserted door stands between bays 6 and 7. Bay 8 projects slightly forward and features a 20th-century half-glazed door with a 4-pane sash above. The right tower displays a 16-pane sash in a chamfered stone surround to ground and first floors, and a side-sliding sash in a chamfered surround to the second floor. The third floor has a moulded band and a blind 3-light mullion-and-transom window. At the corner of the east tower rises a late 16th-century clock tower with an embattled parapet, its moulded band continuing across the towers.

The rear elevation shows the main range with two 4-light mullion-and-transom windows rising through two floors, representing Sir Thomas Cecil's great chamber. The left return (west) features a full-height canted bay to the west tower. Within the wall to its left are fragments of a large Elizabethan chimneypiece with caryatids, a central round-headed carriage opening, and a niche to the right with an ashlar surround. The right return contains the chapel, which projects to the right of the tower with vaulted stores to the north. A connecting north-east tower has chamfered pointed-arched doorways and chamfered 2-light window openings.

The chapel is 2 storeys high with 2 bays, accommodating a chapel on the first floor with stores beneath. An offset diagonal buttress rises at its east end. The chapel features 3-light windows with Perpendicular tracery and 4-centre arches to the north, south and east sides, a moulded band, and an embattled parapet. The west end incorporates a 2-storey porch with a 4-centre arched board door under a hoodmould on the north side, with interior steps leading to the chapel's west entrance.

Interior features include a chapel ceiling painted by Verrio, now completely ruined. The chapel's east wall displays a series of 18th-century oval Dutch religious reliefs and two 18th-century statues; the west wall holds two further 18th-century statues. The east tower contains a large kitchen fireplace arch at ground-floor level and a late 16th-century fireplace on the top floor. The main entrance features an early 18th-century open-well staircase with thick turned balusters. The first floor retains a late 16th-century plaster ceiling with geometrical patterns on thin ribs, along with early 18th-century panelling and doors. An oak spiral stair rises within the clock tower.

History

The castle was built on the site of an old manor house in 1430 by the 1st Lord Latimer of Snape. In 1483 it was occupied by the mother and wife of Richard III. From 1532 to 1542 it housed Catherine Parr, wife of the 3rd Lord Latimer of Snape, before her marriage to Henry VIII. The daughter and heir of the 4th Lord Latimer, Dorothy, married Sir Thomas Cecil of Burghley, Lincolnshire, who enlarged the castle and added the four towers in 1587. The coats of arms of the Nevilles and Cecils are displayed above the front door.