Banwell Castle is a

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

mansion in

Banwell Banwell is a village and civil parish on the River Banwell in the North Somerset district of Somerset, England. Its population was 3,251 according to the 2021 census. Toponymy Banwell's name is first securely attested around the year 900 i ...

, Somerset, England. It is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

The land on which the house is built was owned by the

Bishop of Bath and Wells The Bishop of Bath and Wells heads the Church of England Diocese of Bath and Wells in the Province of Canterbury in England. The present diocese covers the overwhelmingly greater part of the (ceremonial) county of Somerset and a small area of D ...

. It was sold to John and Joan Landown in 1753. It was passed down to the Sympson family; John Dyer Sympson, a solicitor from London, built the castle as his home. It was completed in 1847. Built in the

style made popular by

Augustus Pugin Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin ( ; 1 March 1812 – 14 September 1852) was an English architect, designer, artist and critic with French and Swiss origins. He is principally remembered for his pioneering role in the Gothic Revival architecture ...

. it was expanded and embellished in the 1880s by Sir Elskin Baker, having passed to Sir William Baker, Other owners and tenants have been 1854 to 1874 Henry & Elizabeth Pigou then Sir William & Lady Frances Baker. In 1883 the Estate was sold to the Shaw Yate's family from

Rotherham Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...

. In 1905 Kate Behrens of Manchester purchased the property. Mr & Mrs Hope made it their home, she died in 1916 and the Estate was then sold to Richard Calvert who in 1919 had the Bristol Architect Sir George Oatley do remodelling work on the property. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

it was taken over by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

and used as the headquarters for No. 955 Squadron, which was a

barrage balloon A barrage balloon is a type of airborne barrage, a large uncrewed tethered balloon used to defend ground targets against aircraft attack, by raising aloft steel cables which pose a severe risk of collision with hostile aircraft, making the atta ...

unit and part of Balloon Command. The gatehouse was used by the local

Air Raid Precautions Air Raid Precautions (ARP) refers to a number of organisations and guidelines in the United Kingdom dedicated to the protection of civilians from the danger of air raids. Government consideration for air raid precautions increased in the 1920s a ...

. In 1963 the Estate was sold to Simon and Phillipa Wills (of W.D. & H.O. Wills). Until 1976 the next owners were Charles Skilton, a book and postcard publisher, and Jean Desebrock from South Africa. In 1988 William H & Hugh A Parsons purchased part of the castle and later purchased the whole of the estate. It remains a family home but is used for weddings, pre booked dinner Parties, wakes and as a

bed and breakfast A bed and breakfast (typically shortened to B&B or BnB) is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast. In addition, a B&B sometimes has the hosts living in the house. ''Bed and breakfast'' is also used to ...

Architecture

The house has five windows in the three-storey main block between small circular turrets with other octagonal and hexagonal towers. In front of the house is a terrace with a

trefoil A trefoil () is a graphic form composed of the outline of three overlapping rings, used in architecture, Pagan and Christian symbolism, among other areas. The term is also applied to other symbols with a threefold shape. A similar shape with f ...

pierced

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

with statutes of lions rampant with swords on embattled octagonal gate piers which flank six steps. The coachhouse has a tall circular turret and contained a granary on the first floor. The gatehouse consists of a

Chamfer A chamfer ( ) is a transitional edge between two faces of an object. Sometimes defined as a form of bevel, it is often created at a 45° angle between two adjoining right-angled faces. Chamfers are frequently used in machining, carpentry, fur ...

ed double arch, with a parapet between circular embattled towers, with

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...

gates with

heraldic Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branc ...

motifs. The walled kitchen garden, south east of the house has another tower. The terrace adjoining the house leads to a decorative dairy. The west garden walls include another tower.

References

{{reflist Grade II* listed buildings in North Somerset Houses completed in 1847 Mock castles in England Gothic Revival architecture in Somerset Augustus Pugin buildings Grade II* listed houses in Somerset 1847 establishments in England