Description

DUDDO A 698 NT 84 SE (North side, off) 4/47 Twizell Castle 22.12.69 II*

Ruined house. Begun c.1770 by and for Sir Francis Blake with the assistance of Nisbet of Kelso, but incorporating some of the masonry of a medieval castle.

Ashlar and squared stone; roofless. Gothick style. Rectangular with 4 round corner towers. Two storeys, though the house was originally five storeys high. Seven bays. Pointed windows with brick arches, the central window in a semicircular projection. Much taller pointed windows on 1st floor. On returns large blank quatrefoils.

The original north wall, between the towers, has gone. The present north wall was formerly internal and is partly medieval with openings of the C18 and blocked earlier openings including large segmental arches and a 2-light mullioned window. This wall is c.70 inches thick.

Interior: the ground floor has 4 large vaulted rooms along the south front. Three are tunnel vaults, the fourth, behind the central bow has a central groin vault with 2 flanking tunnel vaults. All of these are in fine ashlar. The west vault has holes for a timber floor. The angle towers were also vaulted on ground floor; of these the south-west tower has a shallow stone dome and the south-east tower a brick dome. In the north towers only the springing of the vaults remain. There are also 2 corridors with pointed brick tunnel vaults and two small rooms whose vaults have collapsed. On the present north wall the springing of a groin vault can be seen at lst-floor level.

Building on the house was continued for almost 50 years and never completed. The house was to be vaulted throughout as a precaution against fire.

Mackenzie: History of Northumberland: Newcastle: 1825. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquities 2nd Series Vol. IV for the reference to Nisbet in a letter from Ford Castle.

Listing NGR: NT8829843407

External Links

• Twizell Castle at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q7858638

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper
• 
  The Shredded Chef: 120 Recipes for Building Muscle, Getting Lean, and Staying Healthy
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)