Ferniehurst Castle

Ferniehurst Castle

This is a late 16th century L-plan laird's house with an unusually long two-storey main block sitting on vaulted cellars. The castle incorporates earlier fabric and has undergone considerable alteration and restoration—notably in 1883, 1938, and again between 1987 and 1990 when Simpson and Brown oversaw restoration of the house and former kitchen wing.

The complex plan comprises the long main block, a four-storey square turreted stair tower at the west angle, a three-storey small circular tower at the east angle, and a single-storey L-plan wing at the south angle. The walls are rubble with freestone dressings, topped with crowstepped gables.

The northwest (principal) elevation features a five-bay main block above five barrel-vaulted cellars, all transverse except at the northeast end, each with its own separate door. The rightmost bay is an advanced four-storey section with corbelled pepperpot bartizans, each containing two windows with gun-loops below and a quartrefoil gun-hole between them. This bay has a crowstepped gable and projecting quoins at its angles. The single-bay return to the east contains the principal entrance, with a door at ground level flanked by thin, simple fleuron-studded pilasters and a cornice beneath an ogee pediment with carved (much eroded) tympanum. A modern bracketed timber canopy-porch stands before it. Above is a small square window flanked and surmounted by framed recarved armorial panels. Windows pierce the three upper storeys, with the uppermost breaking the eaves line with a swept dormerhead. The turret stair in the re-entrant angle is corbelled from the ground on a corbel with 22 members and a trefoil moulding; a small moulded window and gun-hole mark the second storey, a square window the third, and an arrowslit window and gun-hole the fourth. A moulded string course runs above the door, continuing around the turret and returning along the main block to its final bay. The four eastern bays are punctuated by a broad projecting and diminishing coped stack between the first and second bays from the right, with a cellar entrance at ground level, a framed armorial panel above, and chamfered angles. Between the second and third bays stands a projecting canted stairtower, corbelled to square above the principal floor, with a tiny window and gun-hole at principal floor level, a window above, and an arrowslit in the gable. The principal floor of the first bay has a window with thin pilasters on shaped and sunk bases and moulded cornice; the second bay window features flanking shafts enriched with spindles supporting a cable-moulded cornice; the third bay is blank; the left bay has a modern stone stair to a door with the porch described above. The upper floor displays enlarged windows to each bay.

The northeast elevation shows the main block's gable at centre with windows to each floor (very small to the cellar) and a quarter-engaged round library tower at the left angle. This tower retains remains of dumb-bell gun-slits at ground level and three windows to both upper floors; a cubic sundial on a foliate corbel ornaments the principal floor. A garden wall adjoins the right angle of the gable. Set back to the right is the principal entrance bay (as above), adjoining a Renaissance archway with moulded parapet and framed armorial panel that links to a remaining wall of former outbuildings (now concealing a later garage). Set back to the left is a single-storey two-bay private wing, with the second bay at lower ground level.

The southeast elevation spans five bays, with a circular tower attached at the east end and a small stair-turret corbelled across the re-entrant angle. Two small basement windows lie at centre; the right one serves the chapel and has a later iron cross. Large windows with roll-moulded reveals punctuate all bays of the principal floor. A small octagonal window sits between the third and fourth bays from the right, possibly occupying the site of an earlier doorway. The upper floor has pairs of windows to the two left bays and single windows to the right bays; three wallhead stacks and raised eaves complete this elevation. A projecting single-storey private wing is attached at the left, with a tripartite window to the right and five various windows to the left.

The southwest elevation shows the main block's gable at centre with large windows to all floors. To the left, a squared buttress on a moulded base contains a stair and supports a large corbelled pepperpot tower (as above) at the south angle of the stairtower; this tower has a window to each floor, with the upper one breaking the eaves with a swept dormer. A pepperpot tower also appears at the west corner. To the right extends a single-storey, five-bay L-plan wing; the first three bays contain a central door and two skylights, and an advanced two-bay gable beyond carries two windows on its north return.

Windows throughout are multi-pane timber sash and case. The roofing consists of grey slates; the single-storey wing originally had reed-thatch with a concrete ridge, though the thatch was removed in recent years and replaced with grey slate in 2024.

The interior features a stairtower with a panelled timber scale and platt stair leading to the principal floor and gallery above, with panelled rooms to the upper floors and an attic room boasting a boarded barrel-vaulted ceiling. The ante room of the main block contains a modern mural frieze depicting local history and people involved in the recent restoration, with double doors opening into the grey hall. This hall has flat-arched chimneypieces on the north and east walls (largely later replacements), rubble walls, and a corbel cornice. A modern kitchen and newly created passage at the east end lead to the round library in the east tower, which displays a timber ceiling with moulded ribs, each compartment bearing a knob pendant and an elaborate carved pendant at the centre; carved brackets supporting bookshelves line the walls. The garde-robe and private stair here have entirely renewed woodwork from the 1883 restoration. Some 17th century fireplaces ornament the upper floors.

The garden walls and outbuildings include a ruined rubble wall and end gable of a stable facing the former chapel, a rubble wall with two doorways linking to the north corner of the castle, and a parallel wall to the rear forming an enclosed area. A screen wall adjoining the arched gateway (see above) hides a later rubble two-bay garage with crowstepped gables and a slate roof.