Survey Data

Reg No

20907357


Rating

Regional


Categories of Special Interest

Archaeological, Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social


Original Use

Country house


In Use As

Country house


Date

1845 - 1855


Coordinates

161515, 71676


Date Recorded

08/07/2010


Date Updated

--/--/--


Description

Detached four-bay three-storey over basement and with dormer attic house, built c.1850, incorporating fabric of an earlier building. Five-bay north elevation. Pitched slate roofs with battlements, gabled dormers, gablets and rendered chimneystacks. Ashlar limestone and rendered walls having string courses and corner bartizans to south-west and north-east corners. Square-headed openings with carved limestone tracery and label mouldings. Pair of timber panelled doors with strap hinges, approached by flight of limestone steps.

Appraisal

Dramatically sited on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Lee Valley, this building is an eye-catching addition to the surrounding landscape. Built on the site of an early seventeenth century fortified house built by the Barrett family, Windele noted in the early 1840s that only its walls remained. It is thought to have been restored by Deane and Woodward from 1849-50. It was occupied at the time by the McSwiney family, a local mill owning family who due to financial constraints, were soon forced to return the fully restored castle to the owners, the Hoare family.