Gilling Castle

Gilling Castle

Country house, now school. The building is fundamentally a tower house of the late 14th century, substantially altered and extended in the late 16th century and again extensively remodelled in the 18th century. The tower house was originally built for Sir Thomas Etton. Late 16th-century alterations, possibly including the addition of wings, were undertaken for Sir William Fairfax. The early 18th-century alterations to the west front and wings were carried out by William Wakefield for the 5th or 6th Viscount Fairfax. The structure is constructed in limestone rubble and ashlar, arranged in a U-shape with a rectangular central section flanked by wings extending westwards.

The east facade reveals the original tower house clearly: it rises three storeys across four bays, with a canted bay to the left and a staircase turret in the third bay. The turret has a plinth and quoins, with a blocked basket-arched door in the angle between turret and wall. The staircase turret contains two-light square-headed windows with double-chamfered mullions. The first floor has exceptionally fine windows: double-chamfered mullion windows with two levels of transom and continuous hoodmoulds, nine lights to the canted bay and four lights to the second bay. Similar windows at second-floor level have a single transom. Blocked fenestration is visible to the fourth bay, indicating historical alterations.

The west front presents a markedly different character, reflecting the 18th-century remodelling. It rises two storeys above a basement across five bays in the main range, with projecting wings whose outer ends are emphasised by canted bays. The basement contains a six-pane sash window to the left and a six-fielded-panel door with divided overlight to the right, these flanking a double-flight staircase rising to the entrance. Keyed oculi are set beneath the entrance. Two horizontal bands articulate the facade; the upper one forms a continuous sill to the ground-floor windows. The ground floor displays a half-glazed fielded-panel door beneath tall divided overlights set in a Gibbs surround with attached Ionic columns supporting a plain pediment. The windows are unequal 15-pane sashes also in Gibbs surrounds. At first-floor level, six-pane sashes light the rooms, the central example set within an eared and shouldered architrave. A band carrying a parapet with blind panels and six urns articulates the bays. The wings are treated with similar architectural detail.

The interior retains remarkable features spanning four centuries. The basement preserves the late 14th-century plan with a central barrel-vaulted corridor and pointed doorways. The eastern door, originally external, bears six shields charged with the Etton arms and retains a groove for a portcullis. The Great Chamber above is a striking example of Elizabethan craftsmanship. Its walls feature marquetry panelling and a painted frieze displaying the arms of Yorkshire gentlemen. The room is dominated by an imposing carved three-stage chimneypiece bearing the Fairfax achievement of arms and an elaborate pendant boss ribbed plaster ceiling. The windows contain heraldic stained glass signed by Bernard Dirickhoff and dated 1585. Other 16th-century features include a carved wooden chimneypiece in the classroom to the right of the main entrance hall. A massive queen-strut roof in the south wing suggests that this section may have originated earlier than the 18th century.

The 18th-century work is concentrated in the north wing and entrance hall, with the eastern rooms dating to approximately 1715 and the western rooms approximately twenty years later. The entrance hall is Vanbrugian in character and is comparable to Beningborough and Duncombe parks, likely designed by William Thornton of York. Each of the central wall sections carries paired Corinthian columns supporting arches, except to the south where a chimneypiece is positioned. The plasterwork is elaborate, featuring swags and shell motifs executed by Cortese. The stair hall contains an open string staircase with elaborately carved balusters. The room to the north of the Great Chamber possesses a corner chimneypiece characteristic of the early 18th century, a feature paralleled at Beningborough. The remaining interior decoration of the north wing is of the later phase, with fine moulded wainscots, enriched ceiling friezes and carved wooden fireplaces and overdoors. The original interior of the long gallery, also dating to this period, was removed and sold in 1929; the room now contains panelling by Thompson of Kilburn. The south-west drawing room features a fine carved chimneypiece and a western recess framed by an Ionic twin-columned recess.