Sizergh Castle

Description

The earliest remains are of c14 manor house which had a ground-floor hall, a crenellated four-storey solar tower, and a service block. This building was radically altered in the late 1550s and early 1560s by Walter Strickland who remodelled the solar tower, built a new hall with attics over at first-floor level, rebuilt the service block as a three-storey lower end tower with associated garderobe wing, and added two long wings, the south wing with a long gallery over lodgings, the north wing with a kitchen, service rooms and accommodation for upper servants. The fitting out of the interior continued after Walter's death in 1569, the later work including the Inlaid Chamber. Alterations were made throughout C18 to the circulation pattern of the house as well as to its fittings, as they were in C19 and early C20. (PastScape)

Sizergh Castle, nearly 1 m. S.E. of the church, is of two, three and four storeys; the walls are of local rubble and the roofs are covered with slates and lead. It came into the possession of the Strickland family in the 13th century. The earliest part of the building is the pele-tower at the S. end of the main block, which dates from the second half of the 14th century; there was almost certainly a building adjoining the tower on the N. and represented in part by the existing main block with its N. cross-wing; it was perhaps of one storey only, as indicated by the marks of a roof on the N. face of the tower. About 1560 the main block was reconstructed and heightened and the two long W. wings were added, the northern perhaps incorporating earlier work in the kitchen. A considerable amount of work was done at this time by Sir Walter Strickland and his widow, as is indicated by the dates of 1563, 1564, 1569 and 1575 on various overmantels. Alterations were made to the tower in 1749 and c. 1770–80 Cecilia Lady Strickland again reconstructed and heightened the main block. In 1891 the panelling and overmantel of the Inlaid Chamber were removed to the Victoria and Albert Museum. In 1898 the lowest storey of the main block was altered by the cutting of a carriage-way through it. (RCHME 1936)

Comments

Although now universally called Sizergh 'Castle', the castle honorific seems to be of recent origin, most C19 authors called it Sizergh Hall and the first use of 'castle seems to be in the late C19. In fact this is a large and impressive C14 pele tower in the sense of being a gentry status (The Sticklands were an important gentry family but not baronial) building in the form of a solar or chamber block tower attached to an unfortified hall. The additions of the C15 and C16 (another smaller tower and some wings) and a possible moat do, arguably, then make this a fortified manor house.