Swinton Castle

Swinton Castle is a country house dating primarily to the 18th and 19th centuries, with contributions from John Carr, James Wyatt, John Foss, and Robert Lugar. The house is constructed of ashlar with graduated stone slate roofs. The plan comprises an east range with a north wing set back to the right and a south wing to the rear left. It extends to two and three storeys.

The east front, of early 18th-century origin, is five bays wide with a three-storey height, the left-hand bay being two storeys. Octagonal towers with castellated parapets are at each end. The second bay features a four-storey round tower that projects forward, incorporating a porte-cochere with a half-glazed double door. Above the door are round-headed sash windows, and the tower is topped with a machicolated embattled parapet. The first bay has a tall three-light mullioned window with round-headed sashes and a hood-mould; the fourth bay mirrors this design, but with a four-light window. The first and second floors of bays one and four have two-light mullioned windows with sashes, while bays three and five have narrower eight-pane sashes. All windows are set beneath hood-moulds. The parapet is embattled, and the roof is hipped.

To the right of the east front, set back, is the three-storey north wing, twelve bays wide. A central six-panel door, with a fanlight above, is flanked by sashes with fanlights. The central three bays break forward with octagonal towers on each side, with a round tower to the right featuring an embattled parapet. Blind arcades frame sashes with glazing bars, and the first floor has sashes with glazing bars. A band runs across the second floor, above which are sashes with glazing bars and hood-moulds. The wing has an embattled parapet and a hipped roof with ridge stacks.

The left return displays a central, three-storey portion of nine bays, with the central three bays bowed. A two-storey single bay projects to the left, and a two-storey, three-bay end of the east range juts out to the right. Both projections have octagonal corner towers and mullioned sashes. The central section features 24-pane sashes to the ground floor windows, unequally-hung 12-pane sashes to the first floor, a band, and sashes with glazing bars to the second floor. An embattled parapet tops this section.

The interior of the south range includes a large drawing room designed by James Wyatt in 1793, notable for its fine neo-classical plasterwork and chimney piece. Adjacent rooms are also by Wyatt, though with a more restrained style. A panelled room on the first floor is attributed to John Carr, featuring full-height fluted pilasters. The rear wing contains a large, late 19th-century, open-well staircase extending over three stories. Stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops are present.