Description

BRISTOL

ST67SW JUNCTION ROAD, Brislington
901-1/56/466 (West side)
08/01/59 Black Castle Public House
(Formerly Listed as:
JUNCTION ROAD
Arno's Castle)

GV I

Also known as: Arno's Castle JUNCTION ROAD Brislington.
Sham castle and office, now public house. 1745-55. Probably
designed either by William Halfpenny or James Bridges. For
William Reeve, as pleasure rooms and offices. Pre-cast black
copper-slag blocks from Reeve's foundry at Crew's Hole,
Pennant rubble; brickwork and freestone dressings; pantile
roof.
Gothick style. Symmetrical plan with corner towers linked by
2-storey blocks to form a square courtyard, with 2 larger
entrance towers front and back. The entrance front has a
2-storey entrance tower with a pointed archway through,
originally with sexpartite vaulting, and C20 doors; above is a
blank panel with ogee head, and a second-floor 2-centre arch
with perpendicular tracery, and crenellated parapet with
sunken panels.
2-window ranges to each side have similar openings with
Y-tracery, a string course and carved inset panels, beneath a
crenellated parapet. The 2-storey corner towers have wooden
2-centred arched doorways, and flushwork panels shaped like
arrow slits; that on the left has C18 brickwork to the ground
floor and a recent brick buttress. The left-hand elevation has
a plain C20 extension.
A coach house extends forward at right angles from the
right-hand turret, with a central 2-centre archway front and
back, similar smaller windows either side, and round, flush
panels above the string. The crenellated parapet is raised
above the archway.
Inside the courtyard, the entrance tower is as the outside;
facing it is a larger tower with diagonal buttresses and a
moulded arched doorway inside a larger archway containing a
scrolled cartouche. Above is a coat of arms and a head of
Henry VIII. 2 pointed windows to the second floor with
Y-tracery, cornice, decorated crenellations and corner
pinnacles; and on either side are smaller turrets. Around the
courtyard the walls either side of the towers have a single
Y-tracery windows, and the side walls have similar in 4-window
ranges with a central doorway. The latter are decorated with
worn terms, and carved pediment panels above. A plat band runs
all the way round, beneath a crenellated parapet. The rear
round towers are similar to those at the front.
INTERIOR: on 2nd floor of the main tower a former chapel, with
a shallow barrel vault with decorated plaster panels, a corner
fireplace and 3-light traceried side windows. Other internal
decorations such as carved heads can be glimpsed above the
inserted ceilings on the ground floor.
HISTORICAL NOTE: built for William Reeve of Arno's Court (qv),
using material probably from his own copper works at Crew's
Hole. Much of the freestone carving and dressings are reputed
to have come from the city's demolished medieval gateways, and
St Werburgh's Church (qv), rebuilt by James Bridges in
1758-61. A very early example of the Gothick style. "...the
extremely successful massing and variety from all viewpoints,
make this the best of all the early fake castles in Britain"
(Gomme).
(Gomme A, Jenner M and Little B: Bristol, An Architectural
History: Bristol: 1979-: 170; The Buildings of England:
Pevsner N: North Somerset and Bristol: London: 1958-: 461;
Latimer J: The Annals of Bristol in the Eighteenth Century:
Bristol: 1887-1908: 68; Mowl T: Bristol, The Last Age of the
Merchant Princes: Bristol: 1991-: 66).

Listing NGR: ST6111471753

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Black Castle Public House at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q4920501

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.

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