Powis Castle

Powis Castle is constructed of red sandstone rubble with freestone dressings throughout. The main entrance lies between two spurred drum towers dating from around 1300. The entrance is approached up steps with a balustraded parapet added around 1670, though the twisted urns on the parapet appear to be later additions. The original arched entrance with its tiers of stepped-out mouldings was re-exposed when the architect Bodley re-sited a 17th-century portal that had previously obscured it.

The south elevation features a central section that curves slightly in plan (possibly the vestigial remains of a 12th-century shell keep), with a rectilinear tower at the southeast angle. This tower retains some 13th-century flat-headed lancet windows, some partially recut, one with a relieving arch. The remaining fenestration dates from the 16th-17th centuries, including an oriel window of the long gallery immediately to the right of the west drum tower, though most detail is 19th-20th century renewal of earlier mullioned and transomed windows. The north elevation has a corbelled angle turret at the northwest (possibly medieval), with fenestration largely following 16th-17th century patterns as renewed by Bodley. The stair tower towards the left of this elevation may have been added by the architect Smirke when he moved the kitchens into outbuildings on the north side of the castle.

The east elevation is dominated by a projecting gate tower, probably added in the 15th century. It is rectangular in plan with curved angle turrets and features a fine lierne vaulted ceiling to the gate-house passage. Its east portal dates to the late 17th century, constructed of ashlar with engaged Doric columns flanked by niches containing restored statues of Kings Offa and Edgar, and surmounted by a balustraded parapet. The portal at the west entrance to the castle, which was removed by Bodley to the orangery, was originally similarly detailed. Smirke added an additional storey and stair turret to the gate tower and re-fenestrated it, presumably at the same time. Some blocked earlier windows are visible, and historical illustrations suggest there had previously been sash windows over the entrance. The south portal onto the garden may be by Bodley, reworking an existing feature. Fenestration in the flanking walls largely renews a pattern of openings set in the 16th-17th centuries, though the canted oriel in the right-hand angle of the gate tower was added by Bodley, replacing an earlier curved turret.

The inner courtyard is constructed of well-coursed and squared rubble with a balustraded parapet to the south and west, associated with the construction of the long gallery, which is lit by a series of wide sash windows. Below the gallery is a loggia of four bays with Doric columns carrying semi-circular arches, which was filled in and glazed by Smirke. The north and east walls of the courtyard appear to be largely late 19th-early 20th century work, the north wall at least associated with Bodley's work to create the dining room. The east portal, however, is probably late 16th or early 17th century, perhaps contemporary with the long gallery: it features a lozenge rusticated arch carried on Doric columns on high bases, with an entablature surmounted by twisted urns. The west portal into the courtyard post-dates the long gallery and may be an early 18th-century interpretation of the classical style.

The old kitchen and servants' quarters form a continuation of the building line of the north curtain wall immediately north of the main body of the castle. The two eastern sections are rubble-faced with brick dressings and appear substantially to date from the 17th century. The rubble embattled wall to the west conceals an earlier layout of buildings; this refronting was probably carried out by Smirke during his restoration of 1820-1830. It is heavily detailed with bold roll mouldings and corbelled crenellations.

The gate passage is canted in plan with a stone vaulted ceiling and two portcullis slots. The two flanking towers retain their internal layout and structure substantially intact, but elsewhere (with the exception of the east gate tower), the internal arrangement owes more to the 16th-17th centuries than to the medieval period.

The long gallery is the principal surviving feature of the late 16th century: its wainscoting is painted with trompe l'oeil panels, and the plasterwork of the deep frieze, overmantles and ceiling all belong to this period. Other surviving traces of this period exist in the plaster relief ceilings in window embrasures in the dining room and oak drawing room. Similar plasterwork in the southwest tower bedroom, with its wall panelling, may also date to the late 16th or early 17th century.

The late 17th-century baroque remodelling was probably begun immediately after the Restoration, but its richer later character probably reflects the involvement of the architect William Winde. The state bedroom is largely from around 1660, although the balustrade separating the bed alcove from the rest of the room may be slightly later, contemporary with the great staircase. The panelled lower room in the north tower may also date from around 1660. The great staircase is attributed to William Winde and was probably installed between 1673 and 1685 by the First Earl, William Herbert, whose coronet appears in the painted ceiling. The staircase is richly worked, and the symmetrically grouped doorcases at first floor, with enriched pulvinated friezes and scrolled volutes to pediments, form part of a single composition with it. The ceiling over the staircase was painted by Antonio Verrio and has been dated to 1673-1685, while the wall paintings are by Lanscroon and are dated 1705. Other late 17th-early 18th-century interiors include the library with its ante-room, both with painted ceilings by Lanscroon, although the rest of the room was reordered by Smirke, and the panelled blue drawing room which opens off the head of the great staircase.

Smirke reordered the south range of the castle, moving the kitchens and creating bedrooms in what are now the private apartments. The dining room and oak drawing room were remodelled by Bodley in 1902-1904 in a Neo-Elizabethan idiom that drew on surviving earlier features in the house, such as the frieze of the long gallery which forms the source for the oak drawing room frieze, as well as sources from elsewhere.