
Torksey Castle is an Elizabethan
manor house
A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...
located in the village of
Torksey
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Torksey is a small village in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 875. It is situated on the A156 road, south of Gainsborough and north-west of Lincoln, an ...
on the east bank of the
River Trent
The Trent is the third Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, longest river in the United Kingdom. Its Source (river or stream), source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands ...
in
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...
, England. It is 12 miles northwest of
Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincoln (na ...
on the
A156 road. Seven miles to the north is
Gainsborough Old Hall
Gainsborough Old Hall in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire is over five hundred years old and one of the best preserved medieval manor houses in England.
History Construction and royal visit by Richard III
The hall was built by Sir Thomas Burgh in 14 ...
and 10 miles southeast is
Lincoln Castle
Lincoln Castle is a major medieval castle constructed in Lincoln, England, during the late 11th century by William the Conqueror on the site of a pre-existing Roman fortress. The castle is unusual in that it has two mottes. It is one of only ...
. It is a 16th-century
Tudor stone-built
fortified
A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lat ...
manor house founded by the Jermyn family of
Suffolk
Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...
. It is a Grade-I listed building
and a
scheduled ancient monument
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change.
The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...
but the building is on the
Heritage at Risk Register
An annual ''Heritage at Risk Register'' is published by Historic England. The survey is used by national and local government, a wide range of individuals and heritage groups to establish the extent of risk and to help assess priorities for acti ...
. The site is private, with no public access, and is only visible from the
A156 road and a
public footpath
A footpath (also pedestrian way, walking trail, nature trail) is a type of thoroughfare that is intended for use only by pedestrians and not other forms of traffic such as motorized vehicles, bicycles and horses. They can be found in a wide va ...
, on the west bank of the River Trent.
History
The
country house
image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire
An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...
was built by
Sir Robert Jermyn in c. 1560. It may have been built as a waypoint for the Jermyn family's travels to York or as a gift to one of their sons.
In 1645, the property was
slighted
Slighting is the deliberate damage of high-status buildings to reduce their value as military, administrative, or social structures. This destruction of property is sometimes extended to the contents of buildings and the surrounding landscape. It ...
during the
English Civil War
The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...
. Having been taken from the
Royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...
Jermyn family by
Parliamentarians, it was burned by Royalist soldiers based at
Newark. Very little of the structure remained.
Though the Jermyn family retained control of the estate after the Civil War, the property was not restored, but continued to deteriorate. The remains of the buildings were scavenged for usable building supplies by residents of the area. Also, the hall was built quite close to the flood-prone River Trent, which may have stood the family in good stead as a source of transportation and commerce (as the Lords of Torksey had been permitted to levy tolls on the river's travellers), but which also contributed to the damage of the building through flooding. In 1961, the Trent
River Board buried part of the ruins when raising the river bank.
The west facade and part of the rear wall survive.
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...
undertook stabilisation of the building in 1991 but the building is on the
Heritage at Risk Register
An annual ''Heritage at Risk Register'' is published by Historic England. The survey is used by national and local government, a wide range of individuals and heritage groups to establish the extent of risk and to help assess priorities for acti ...
.
Origin of the name
It is not known why Torksey Castle was popularly termed a castle. The building was never used as a fortress and would not have been suitable for that purpose. Although the structure is a hall rather than a castle, it bears similar architectural design features, including angular projecting towers and
crow-stepped gable
A stepped gable, crow-stepped gable, or corbie step is a stairstep type of design at the top of the triangular gable-end of a building. The top of the parapet wall projects above the roofline and the top of the brick or stone wall is stacked in ...
s. According to Heritage Lincoln, these features may have led to its being termed castle.
[ Alternatively it may have been built on the site of an earlier ]medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
castle.
Construction of the hall
It is obvious from the materials and architectural features of the remaining structure that the building was constructed, at least in layout if not in ornament, to the latest Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
fashion. The lower or ground floor
A storey (Commonwealth English) or story (American English), is any level part of a building with a floor that could be used by people (for living, work, storage, recreation, etc.). Plurals for the word are ''storeys'' (UK, CAN) and ''storie ...
level is built of thin limestone blocks, is very plain and has small mullion
A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid sup ...
ed windows, meaning it was probably used as the domestic area of the house, where the servants would have worked, but probably not slept. The upper level is built in red brick in English bond
Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called '' courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall.
Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by s ...
and most probably constitutes a piano nobile
( Italian for "noble floor" or "noble level", also sometimes referred to by the corresponding French term, ) is the architectural term for the principal floor of a '' palazzo''. This floor contains the main reception and bedrooms of the house ...
, a principle still very much new in Northern Europe
The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other ge ...
at the time. Brick at the time, although having been used previously, had rarely been in use in British secular
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...
architecture before this period. Brick was widely considered at this time a lavish building material, due to their handmade nature, the cost of the labour involved, and the scarcity of brick and its manufacture, it was often a case that the kilns used to fire the bricks were constructed afresh on the building site
Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the ...
. All of which added to the expense.
The hall consists of a planned series of ranges around a square courtyard. The symmetrical nature of the surviving main facade makes it a great departure from the usual ad hoc nature which preceded it, and indeed continued up until the mid-seventeenth century.
Depictions in Art
Torksey Castle was painted by Peter De Wint in 1835. The watercolour is now held in the Usher Gallery
The Usher Gallery is an art museum in Lincoln, England. The gallery displays a collection of artworks by painters such as J. M. W. Turner and L. S. Lowry. Established in 1927, it is run as part of Lincoln Museum.
History
James Ward Usher wa ...
in Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincoln (na ...
.
Pictures
Pictures taken January 2024. The panoramic view shows stabilisation work carried out by English Heritage in 1991.
File:Torksey Castle Jan 2024.jpg, Panoramic view
File:Torksey Castle Jan 2024 2.jpg, Fireplace & chimney
File:Torksey Castle Jan 2024 3.jpg, Fireplace tower from side
File:Torksey Castle Jan 2024 4.jpg, Spiral staircase
References
External links
Torksey Castle
at Heritage Trust of Lincolnshire
{{coord, 53.300, -0.745, display=title, format=dms, region:GB_type:landmark
Grade I listed buildings in Lincolnshire
West Lindsey District
Scheduled monuments in Lincolnshire