Description

SJ 50 SW
6/3

ACTON BURNELL C.P.
Acton Burnell Castle

(formerly listed as Ruins of Acton Burnell Castle)

13.6.58

GV
I
Fortified manor house, remains of.1284-5 for Robert Burnell (died 1292) with some late C18 alterations. Roughly squared and coursed red and grey sandstone with ashlar dressings; C18 stone slate hipped roofs over west block and south-west tower.

Four-bay central block formerly with first-floor three-bay hall and one-bay chamber over ground-floor buttery and service chambers; small projecting garderobe block to west; projecting square corner towers: formerly containing garde-robe to north-west, stairs to upper chambers to south-west; possible chapel and stairs to hall to north-east, and stairs to undercroft to south-east.

Two and three storeys with four-storey towers. Battlemented parapets; towers with moulded plinth and chamfered offsets. Large two-light windows with cusped geometrical tracery, ground floor lancets to north; rectangular openings to towers. Disturbed masonry to central block is evidence of former buttresses; there was formerly a two-span roof, springing from corbels and a now-demolished central hall arcade.

Robert Burnell was Chancellor of England and Bishop of Bath and Wells; he also built a large palace at Wells with which the design of Acton Burnell has some affinities. The ruins were used as a barn in the C18 when the large depressed archways were created in the north and south walls. To the east of the house stand the gable ends of a large C13 stone barn (County A.M. No.1a) (not included on this list) and the Church of St Mary (q.v.) lies immediately to the north-west.

Listing NGR: SJ5338201898

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Acton Burnell Castle at Wikipedia
• Acton Burnell Castle official website
• Wikidata Q4677663

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

• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)