Thurland Castle

Thurland Castle is a country house in Lancashire, England 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 recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. Situated between the villages of Cantsfield and Tunstall the castle is built on a mound and is encircled by a moat. The River Greta runs to the south and the Cant beck to the north.

History

The earliest existing fabric dates from the 14th century. In 1402 Sir Thomas Tunstall (d. 05 Nov 1415),Richardson, D. (2011). "Joan Mowbray," in Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd ed, pp. 254-255
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was licensed to crenellate the building."Membrane 23," (1402, October 23). Calendar of Patent Rolls. sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu. PD

/ref>Hartwell, C. & Pevsner, N., (2009). Lancashire: North, pp. 673. Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. . The castle passed through successive generations of the family and was eventually inherited by Tunstall's great-grandson, Sir Brian Tunstall, a knightly hero who died at the Battle of Flodden in 1513.Gastrell, F. (1850). Notitia Cestriensis, or Historic Notices of the Diocese of Chester, 3, pp. 491. Chetham Soc
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Sir Brian was a younger son of Thomas Tunstall III and the heir of his brother Thomas IV.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
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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. Parliamentarian forces besieged the castle in 1643. The damage was described as "ruinous." Sir John's son, also John, was High Sheriff of Lancashire for 1663.

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, but in 1876 it was gutted by fire.Brandwood, G., Austin, T., Hughes, J. & Price, J. (2012). The Architecture of Sharpe, Paley and Austin. Swindon: English Heritage, pp. 131, 231. . The owner, Mr North North, commissioned the Lancaster architects Paley and Austin to rebuild it, and what is now present is mainly their work. Work began in 1879, over 100 men were employed, and it was not completed until 1885. From 1885 until the early twentieth century, Thurland Castle was owned by the coal-mining Lees family, formerly of Clarksfield, near Oldham, Lancashire, from a junior branch of which came the writer James Lees-Milne. The house and stables have since been converted into several luxury apartments.

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. It is approached by an arched bridge crossing the moat. 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. Around the building are terraces with bastions.

See also

* Grade II* listed buildings in Lancashire
* Listed buildings in Cantsfield
*List of non-ecclesiastical works by Paley and Austin

References

{{City of Lancaster buildings

Grade II* listed buildings in Lancashire
Buildings and structures in the City of Lancaster
Country houses in Lancashire
Paley and Austin buildings
Tudor Revival architecture
Gothic Revival architecture in Lancashire