Thurland Castle
| Thurland Castle | |
| Lancashire | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Thurland Castle, looking west from the A6 | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SD611731 |
| Location: | 54°9’7"N, 2°35’52"W |
| Village: | Tunstall |
| History | |
| Built 14th century | |
| By: | Paley and Austin |
| Country house | |
| Elizabethan Revival and Gothic Revival | |
| Information | |
Thurland Castle is a country house in Lancashire, which has been converted into apartments. Surrounded by a moat, and located in parkland, it was originally a defensive structure, one of a number of castles in the Lune Valley. It is designated as a Grade-II* listed building.[1] Siuated between the villages of Cantsfield and Tunstall the castle stands on a low mound on a flat plain, with the River Greta on the south side and the Cant beck to the north. A deep circular moat surrounds it.[2]
History
The earliest existing fabric dates from the 14th century.[1] In 1402 Sir Thomas Tunstall (d. 05 Nov 1415),[3] was licenced to crenellate the building.[4][5] The castle passed through successive generations of the family and was eventually inherited by Tunstall's great-grandson, Brian Tunstall, a hero who died at the Battle of Flodden in 1513.[6]
Brian was a younger son of Thomas Tunstall III and the heir of his brother Thomas IV.[7] Dubbed the "Stainless Knight" by the king, he was immortalized in the poem Marmion - A Tale of Flodden Field by Sir Walter Scott. His son Marmaduke was High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1544.
The castle stayed in the family for two or three more generations until it was sold to John Girlington in 1605. It passed to his grandson Sir John Girlington, a Royalist major-general during the Civil War. Parlimentarian forces seiged the castle in 1643. The damage was described as "ruinous."[1] Sir John's son, also John, was High Sheriff of Lancashire for 1663.[8]
Work was done on the building to convert it to a country house in 1810 by Jeffry Wyattville, and in 1826–29 by George Webster,[5] but in 1876 it was gutted by fire.[9] The owner, Mr North North, commissioned the Lancaster architects Paley and Austin to rebuild it, and what is now present is mainly their work.[1][5] Work began in 1879, over 100 men were employed, and it was not completed until 1885.[9] The house and stables have since been converted into several luxury apartments.[5]
Architecture
The building is constructed in sandstone rubble, with slate roofs. It consists mainly of two ranges on the north and west sides of a courtyard. Its architectural style is a mixture of Elizabethan Revival and Gothic Revival.[1] It is approached by an arched bridge crossing the moat.[5] Its windows are either mullioned or mullioned and transomed, and there are two towers, one of which has two storeys, the other three. Many of the parapets are embattled.[1] Around the building are terraces with bastions.[5]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 National Heritage List 1164439: Thurland Castle, Cantsfield
- ↑ Leslie Irving Gibson (1977). Lancashire Castles and Towers. Clapham, Yorkshire: Dalesman Books. p. 45.
- ↑ Richardson, D. (2011). "Joan Mowbray," in Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd ed, pp. 254-255. Google Books.
- ↑ "Membrane 23," (1402, October 23). Calendar of Patent Rolls. sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu. PDF.[1]
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Hartwell, C. & Pevsner, N., (2009). Lancashire: North, pp. 673. Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-12667-9.
- ↑ Gastrell, F. (1850). Notitia Cestriensis, or Historic Notices of the Diocese of Chester, 3, pp. 491. Chetham Soc. Google Books.
- ↑ Flower, W. (1881). "Tunstall," in The Visitation of Yorkshire in the Years 1563 and 1564. Charles Best Norcliffe, Ed. The Harleian Society, 16, pp. 327. London. Google Books.
- ↑ Scogland, Thesta (1976). The Garlington Family. Gateway Press.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Brandwood, G., Austin, T., Hughes, J. & Price, J. (2012). The Architecture of Sharpe, Paley and Austin. Swindon: English Heritage, pp. 131, 231. ISBN 978-1-84802-049-8.
