Description

NY 0028 WORKINGTON HALL BROW (East side)
Workington

10/46 Workington Hall
6.6.51

G.V. I

Fortified tower house with various additions, now in ruins. Mid C14 with C15
and C16 alterations and additions; late 1783-1789 additions by John Carr for the
Curwen family. Mixed large blocks of red and calciferous sandstone with
additions of similar rubble stone, all without roofs; oldest parts on chamfered
plinth. Rectangular 3-storey tower with adjoining L-shaped medieval wing
reduced to single-storey and rebuilt as 3 storeys by Carr; also adjoined by C15
hall range of 2 storeys, 5 bays, all enclosing courtyard on 2 sides, the
quadrangle completed by a medieval gatehouse tower and wing by Carr. Tower was
extensively renovated by Carr but retains some original loops, internal spiral
staircase and mural chambers. Late C18 round and flat-headed windows, all
unglazed. Wing has projecting 3-storey garderobe turret and ground-floor loops;
large first-floor late C18 round-headed window openings, those above in ruins.
Late C18 canted bay window to left. Further right-angled kitchen range of
similar details, with angle turret. Hall range has blocked windows and doorways
of various dates; 2 ground-floor early C16 2-light windows and upper-floor C15
window. Inner wall has C15 doorways and blocked early C16 multi-light windows.
3-storey gatehouse has flanking guardrooms with angle turret to right, showing a
number of small original chamfered-surround windows; the round-headed through
archway and windows are late C18 alterations. Adjoining late C18 wing has
similar flat-headed window openings. Ancestral home of the Curwen family who
obtained a licence to crenellate in 1380 (the foundation stone for the tower is
said to have been laid 8 May 1362) and owned by them until sold to the local
council mid C20. After vandalisation the council reduced the building to a
controlled ruin. See Tom Clare, Report on the Fortified Buildings of Cumbria,
Cumbria County Council, 1983 (unpublished), appendix 3; Transactions Cumberland
Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, old series, xvi, 1-15; J.F.
Curwen, Castles & Towers, 1913, 244-7.

Listing NGR: NY0075628793

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Workington Hall at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q15979618

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

• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas