Difference between revisions of "Wilton Castle, Yorkshire"

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Latest revision as of 00:16, 14 November 2019

Wilton Castle
Yorkshire
North Riding
Wilton Castle, Teesside (geograph 2264814).jpg
Wilton Castle
Location
Grid reference: NZ58191967
Location: 54°34’8"N, 1°6’5"W
Village: Wilton
History
Built 1810
For: Sir John Lowther
by Sir Robert Smirke
Mansion
Information
Owned by: Wilton Castle Management Company Ltd

Wilton Castle is an early 19th-century mansion, built on the site of a mediæval castle, by Wilton in the North Riding of Yorkshire. It has in latter years been converted into luxury residential apartments.

The house is a Grade II listed building.[1]

History

At the time of the Domesday Book the estate is recorded as held by Nigel on behalf of Robert Earl of Morton.

John de Bulmer and the Bulmer family became lords of the manor of Wilton and towards the end of the 11th century the Bulmer family are recorded as building a wooden manor house on the land.[2] In 1170 Sir Ralph de Bulmer received a royal charter confirming his ownership of the estate.

King John granted William de Bulmer a licence to fortify their manor house in the year 1210. In 1330 a Sir Ralph de Bulmer obtained a charter of his desmesne from King Edward III acknowledging his ownership of the estate. Sir Ralph carried out further alterations to the building and obtained a licence to crenellate from King Edward III allowing him to make the manor house into a castle.[2][3]

On 25 May 1537, Sir John and Lady Bulmer were executed for high treason under the 1534 Act of Supremacy and all their estates, including Wilton, were forfeit to the Crown: this sentence followed their part in the Pilgrimage of Grace, a rebellion against King Henry VIII's break with the Roman Church. The manor was later restored to their nephew, Sir Ralph de Bulmer (d. 1558) by King Edward VI in 1547.

In 1558 Queen Mary I granted the estate to Sir Thomas Cornwallis. In 1569, Lord Eure mentioned the castle among the strongholds of the North Riding as standing 'for Cleavland very servesable.' From this time, however, it seems to have gone gradually to ruin. Some remains of it could still be seen at the beginning of the 19th century, but in 1846 even these had disappeared.[4]

Demolition and rebuilding

The castle had been allowed to decay and by 1805 was largely a ruin. The estate was purchased in about 1806 by a cousin Sir John Lowther (1759–1844).[2]

Sir John Lowther demolished the remains of the mediæval castle in about 1807, and in 1810 built an imposing mansion house on the site, to a design by architect Sir Robert Smirke.[1][3]

The first stage of the rebuilding of the castle was the building of the centre block, the west wing and a short low east wing and later in a second phase of building, an octagonal tower was added to the end of the east wing.[2] It is a 'Gothick' design, which includes a fifteen-bay frontage with a four-storey castellated tower at the centre, flanked by castellated and gabled bays and turrets and five-bayed two-storey wings.[1]

Lowther was created a Baronet in 1824.

The iron industry of Middlesbrough was founded by Bolckow and Vaughan followed by the chance discovery in 1850 of iron ore in the Eston hills,[5] on land that the Lowthers owned. One area of farmland was rented to Bolckow and Vaughan for £17,700 pa and this change of fortunes funded later redevelopment work.[2]

By 1887, Sir Charles Hugh Lowther, the 3rd Baronet, had demolished the whole of the east wing including the octagonal tower and replaced them with amongst other rooms a pavilion ballroom to create essentially the building that exists today. Farmhouses and outbuildings on the estate were also demolished and rebuilt for tenants followed by the building of a new village of Wilton out of sight of the castle, and the main road was moved further away from the front of the castle.[2]

After the War

In 1945, Colonel Lowther sold the estate including Wilton Castle to Imperial Chemical Industries. In 1946, ICI staff moved into Wilton Castle to plan the development of the estate as a chemical works. The whole of the castle was converted and used as offices due to restrictions at the time on building new offices. Staff were transferred to new offices on the works site as restrictions were lifted, such that by 1969 the building had many empty offices, but still had dining facilities and bedrooms for visitors, and a staff club.[2]

The park had been developed as a golf course for ICI staff and was sold in 1999 to the club members. Over the period 2001–2002, Wilton Castle was converted by George Wimpey Ltd into 45 luxury apartments and houses.[6]

The castle today

There is no remaining evidence of the building of 1210, but internal walls to the east of the entrance are particularly thick and it is thought they constituted part of the original tower.[2]

Wilton Castle is a Grade II listed building.[1]

As well as the castle, the associated stable block,[7] garden wall,[8] and retaining wall[9] are Grade II listed.

On television

The castle was used as a location in the BBC television drama series Spender (1991).[10]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 National Heritage List 1310567: Wilton Castle
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 K.W.G.: 'A History of Wilton Castle' (Billingham Press, 1973)
  3. 3.0 3.1 "Kirkleatham". British History Online. 2009. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=64676&strquery=kirkleatham. Retrieved 5 August 2013. 
  4. Wilton Castle: Gatehouse Gazetteer
  5. 'Millennium Memories of Middlesbrough, Thornaby & North Yorkshire' in the Evening Gazette, 16 November 1999
  6. "Wilton Castle, Redcar – Ventrolla Sash Windows Case Studies". Ventrolla. 1 July 2002. http://www.ventrolla.co.uk/about/case_studies/wilton-castle-redcar/00129/. Retrieved 26 October 2009. 
  7. National Heritage List 1329636: Stable Block west of Wilton Castle
  8. National Heritage List 1160528: Garden Wall South East of Wilton Castle
  9. National Heritage List 1139624: Retaining Wall and Stair to Forecourt of Wilton Castle
  10. "Film and TV locations". BBC Tees. May 2009. http://www.bbc.co.uk/tees/content/articles/2009/03/16/film_locations_feature.shtml. Retrieved 26 October 2009. 
  • Ord, John Walker: 'The History and Antiquities of Cleveland' (1846) p. 384 - History of Parish of Wilton