Duchray Castle

Duchray Castle

This is a late 16th-century tower house that was substantially altered and enlarged over subsequent centuries. The building stands as three distinct blocks reflecting different periods of development.

The original structure is a small three-storey rectangular-plan tower house with a circular-plan stair tower positioned at the south-east corner. It features an eaves-height bartizan at the north-west corner and crowstepped gables with beaked skewputts. The masonry is rubble construction throughout, partially limewashed, with stugged red sandstone dressings to windows and other openings.

A separate two-storey rectangular-plan block was constructed to the west around 1825. This was subsequently altered following a fire. It is linked to the original tower by a wing wall featuring a large segmental-headed gateway and crenellated parapet. Both the main tower and this western addition display windows in 'Gothick' style, including pointed-headed and round-headed examples. The western block has multi-pane timber sash and case windows with vertical astragals splitting into a Y pattern above the springing point of the arched heads. Red sandstone quoins and dressings appear to the upper section of the western block's left arris.

A further two-storey rectangular-plan addition was constructed to the north-east in the mid-to-late 19th century. This comprises three bays with crowstepped gables and beaked skewputts, and features stugged red sandstone dressings with long and short surrounds to most windows and quoins at the arrises and crowsteps. A narrow linking bay projects at right angles. This block contains mainly four-pane timber sash and case windows and has a grey slate roof.

On the main block's south elevation, the circular stair tower projects to the outer right, with an entrance to the left featuring an architrave with chamfered reveal and a two-leaf studded boarded timber door. Narrow pointed-headed stair windows light the upper levels of the tower. The main body displays two pointed-headed windows to the ground and second floors, set back to the left, and a round-arched Y-traceried window centred to the first floor. The wing wall with segmental-headed gateway adjoins to the left.

The north elevation shows the mid-to-late 19th-century block projecting to the outer left at ground and first floors, with a small later lean-to annexe to the re-entrant angle. A pointed-headed window occupies the outer right of the ground floor, whilst a round-arched Y-traceried window sits to the right of the first floor. A near-central flat-headed window appears on the second floor, with a round-arched window to the outer left. A corbelled-out bartizan projects at the right arris.

The east elevation shows the stair tower projecting to the left, its crowsteps curved around the nearest part of the tower. Irregularly spaced pointed-headed windows are set back to the right, with one at each floor level. A narrow two-storey linking bay adjoins to the right.

The west elevation presents a blank gable end, though a former blocked entrance is visible to the left of the ground floor. The wing wall with gateway projects at right angles to the outer right. Windows feature multi-pane timber sash and case design. Gablehead stacks with band courses appear to either side, topped with round cans.

The interior of the main block contains a barrel-vaulted ground floor and an original stone turnpike staircase, though fixtures and fittings have been replaced. The interiors of the western and north-eastern blocks were not inspected at the time of listing assessment in 2000.

The western block's south elevation displays a pointed-headed window centred to the ground and first floors, with a parapet to the roof flanked by crenellations. Its north elevation includes a garage entrance to the left and a general entrance to the right, with two flat-headed windows to the first floor and a flat asphalted roof. The entrance to the block is positioned to the east elevation's outer left.

The north-eastern block is three bays in width. Its north elevation contains windows to each floor of each bay, with those to the left bay larger and including a breaking-eaves dormer with crowstepped gable to the first floor. The south elevation houses a window to the centre of the first floor and a larger breaking-eaves dormer with crowstepped gable to the right. The east elevation features a rubble terrace at ground floor level, steps leading up to an entrance on the left with a replacement glazed timber door, and a mullioned bipartite window centred below the gable. Later single-storey harled lean-to additions adjoin the re-entrant angles between blocks, and a further harled single-storey addition with stepped flat roof occupies the left side. A later harled external stack appears at the west gable end, topped with a round can.