Castle House

Castle House is a house dating from 1851, commissioned for William Ackerman. It is constructed of brick with pre-cast concrete facing panels, solid concrete, and has a pantile roof with rendered stacks. The building is of a double-depth plan, including a rear range, and is designed in an Early Tudor Revival style.

The house is two storeys and has a two-window facade. The front elevation is highly ornate, designed to resemble an Early Tudor gatehouse. The ground-floor walls are of brick with pre-cast concrete facing panels, while the first-floor walls are of solid concrete blocks that simulate rusticated jointing. The upper parts of the parapet and mock battlements are rendered brick. Friezes, formed of perforated pre-cast concrete blocks supported by pre-cast concrete corbels, run above and below the first floor. Projecting concrete drip cills protect the base of the parapets, friezes, and plinth. The windows are mullioned and transomed two-light casements with head stops to the label moulds. Canted bays on either side form stair turrets, with niches containing depressed-arched heads, formerly housing painted concrete statues (those on the ground floor have head stops to label moulds). A small, single-storey canted bay with a single window, surmounted by a panelled parapet, is centrally positioned on the front. A doorway, sheltered by a hood on consoles, is on the left, and an entrance to a stair turret is in the corner to the far left.

The interior features extensive concrete work, including staircases, handrails, and window frames, all prefabricated at John Board’s works. The building appears to be held together with tie-bars, and one section of roof trusses is constructed of reinforced brickwork, simulating a cruck frame or parabolic arch.

The house represents an early and significant use of concrete for both decorative and structural purposes, and is considered one of the earliest surviving examples of the use of prefabricated concrete and constructional post-tensioning. The castings are mostly ornamental but include elements that carry loads, indicating minor structural importance. It demonstrates an innovative interpretation of traditional masonry features in concrete and an early method of reinforcement. Castle House is linked to the Board and Ackerman families, who were instrumental in the development of cement production. John Board (1802–1861) expanded his family's brick company into cement in 1844, and his grandson, William Ackerman, credited with the first ‘true’ Portland cement, joined the company in 1871.