England · Ruin
High Head Castle
High Head Castle is a country house on a site with medieval origins, located between Carlisle and Penrith in Cumbria. The present building received a new eleven-bay Georgian façade with a pedimented three-bay centre in 1744–1748; the house was largely destroyed by fire in 1956 and today survives mainly as a shell. The house and its medieval wing are Grade II* listed and the site is privately owned and on the Heritage at Risk Register.
Its prime
1748
Today
Ruin
As it stood in 1748
What High Head Castle looked like in its prime.
Long, rectangular two-storey Georgian block eleven bays wide with a central pedimented three-bay projection and a low balustraded parapet along the roofline; red-brown sandstone walls with regularly spaced window openings. A low stone garden wall and wrought-iron central gate lead across a lawn to the façade, where paired Ionic columns mark the walled front garden. At the west end a surviving older wing shows straight-headed mullioned windows with round-arched lights under hood moulds and the basement of a square stone tower.
Its story
The story of High Head Castle.
High Head Castle stands between Carlisle and Penrith in Cumbria, a Georgian country house on the site of a medieval castle. Sir William L'Engleys, descended from the family who held Little Asby, acquired it, and the Richmond family bought and extended the house in the 16th century before it was sold to the Barons Brougham and Vaux, who made alterations.
Henry Richmond Brougham gave the house its eleven-bay Georgian façade with a pedimented three-bay centre in 1744–1748. By the mid-19th century, and until at least 1909, it was occupied by the Hills family, the childhood home of the soldier and astronomer Edmond Hills, while census records show the Thornborrow family renting and farming the land between at least 1851 and 1881, and the Cavaghan family, co-founders of Cavaghan & Gray, living there from about 1921 to 1929.
Fire largely destroyed the house in 1956, leaving mainly a shell of exterior walls and foundations, though the right-hand wing has since been re-roofed. Grade II* listed along with its medieval wing, privately owned and on the Heritage at Risk Register, it is closed to the public while its owners work towards restoration.
Step inside
6 places to explore in 1748.
The record describes 6 distinct spots at High Head Castle, including 1 interior: stable quadrangle courtyard. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Build Your Own Castle
Recreate High Head Castle with AI to explore it.
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Clans who held High Head Castle.
The families that held High Head Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Richmond
The Richmond family bought and extended the house in the 16th century.
Brougham
Held by the Barons Brougham and Vaux; Henry Richmond Brougham added the Georgian façade in 1744–48.
