Description

LITTLE LUMLEY LUMLEY PARK
NZ 25 SE
4/44 Lumley Castle
4/6/52
I

Large castle and 3 ranges around service court; now an hotel. Licences to
crenellate 1382 and 1392; altered c.1570-80, and 1721 by Sir John Vanbrugh.
Early C18 service court. Dressed and ashlar sandstone, pantiled roofs and
stone chimneys. Quadrangular plan: 4 ranges round courtyard with 4 angle
towers; 3 ranges round service court on north. Hall in west range.

Partly-refaced 3-storey ranges and 4-storey towers with crenellations.
Diagonally-buttressed towers with octagonal turrets. Ranges and towers have
c.1721 fenestration on south and west; some original openings on north and
east. Central gatehouse with square towers on 7-bay east range. Round-arched
rusticated door surround on 5-bay south range. Scattered sashes on north
range. 5-bay west range: stone stairway to wide perron; central doorway in
architrave with flanking sashes and 5 oeils-de-boeuf above; wood clock tower
on ridge. Steeply-pitched roofs and ridge stacks. 3-storey ranges in
courtyard: early C18 round-arched doorways and sashes; some original windows;
gatehouse with square towers on east; gatehouse with polygonal towers and 18
post-1577 shields on west (hall) range; 1721 extension with Venetian stair
window on south.

One-storey ranges round service court, with cross windows; chamfered doorways
and C20 dormers facing courtyard; steeply-pitched roofs. Double mounting block
in centre of service court.

Interior. Vaulted medieval ground floor with pointed doorways and jewel stairs
in towers. Hall in west range retains 3 doorways behind screen and has c.1570
classical stone fireplace. 2-storey kitchen with 3 fireplaces in north-west
tower. Subdivided rib-vaulted chapel with C18 Gothick features in north-east
tower. First-floor corridor and subdivided bedrooms with C17 wainscoting in
north range. Library by Vanbrugh with 3 groin-vaulted aisles and rusticated
piers on ground-floor of south-west tower. South range: ground and first-floor
rooms planned by Vanbrugh. State rooms, decorated c.1730-45 with elaborate
Palladian and Baroque plasterwork, also have fine panelling, doorcases and
chimneypieces (outstanding Garter Room c.1745 probably by Pietro La Francini).

(N. Pevsner revised E. Williamson, County Durham, 2nd. edition 1983).

Listing NGR: NZ2876851054

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Lumley Castle at Wikipedia
• Lumley Castle official website
• Wikidata Q6703353

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

• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas