Description

BELSAY BELSAY
NZ 0878

26/7 Belsay Castle
27.8.52 (formerly listed as
Nos 1 and 2 Old Castle
Cottages)

GV ll

Towerhouse with attached house. c.1370, attached house added 1614, possibly
around earlier core, by Thomas Middleton and Dorothy, his wife. Ruined fragments
of early C18 west wing attached to left.

Squared stone and ashlar. Tower has lead roof, house is roofless.
Tower of 3 storeys stepped in at first floor. Chamfered plinth. South side:
on ground floor a slit window; on first floor a large 2-light mullioned-and-
transomed window with cinquefoil heads to lights, and left of this a smaller
2-light mullioned window with trefoiled heads; on 2nd floor a 2-light mullioned
window with cinquefoil heads. Battlemented machicolated parapet on close-set
triple-step corbels; higher round corner turrets on multi-moulded corbels;
turret to left is higher still and flanked by square projections. North side:
C19 doorway; 2-light mullioned-and-transomed window on 1st floor and smaller
2-light mullioned window on 2nd floor both with cinquefoil heads to lights.
Garderobe chute. West side: (i.e. now within attached house) has a recessed
centre section, and set within it a doorway with pointed arch and chamfered
surround; on the 1st floor a Tudor-arched blocked doorway, and on the 2nd floor,
largely covered by a C19 external stack, a pointed-arched doorway with chamfered
surround.
House of 2 storeys has original 2-storey porch with round-headed multi-mullioned
doorway flanked by paired Tuscan columns; Middleton coat of arms above doorway
in moulded frame and inscription above that; on 1st floor a 5-light mullioned-
and-transomed window. Walling and windows to right of porch seem partly original;
other external features of mid C19 in similar style.

Attached to north side of tower is a 2-storey barn, altered C18 and C19 but
largely of medieval masonry. It has, on east side, a blocked 2-light mullioned
window and several blocked small C16 windows; on the west side, five C18 bays
with doorway in 4th bay; all openings have raised surrounds and are now boarded
up.

Interior: The plan of the tower shows on each floor a large chamber taking up
the whole eastern side, with short projecting wings on either side of the
entrancecontaining staircase, smaller rooms and garderobes.

Large pointed tunnel-vaulted kitchen on ground floor has fireplace with
segmental arch. Hall on 1st floor has traces of C15 mural decoration. The
stair has an umbrella vault above with 8 chamfered ribs.

Belsay: English Heritage : HBMC. 1984.

An account of Belsay Castle in the County of Northumberland by Sir Arthur E.
Middleton Bart: privately printed 1918. Belsay Castle and the Scottish Tower
Houses: Archaeolgia Aeliana 4th Series XVII, 1940.

Listing NGR: NZ0848678550

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Belsay Castle at Wikipedia
• Belsay Castle official website
• Wikidata Q2968534

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

• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper