England · Still standing
Hornby Castle
Hornby Castle is a Grade I listed country house in Lancashire, developed from a medieval castle and largely remodelled in the 18th and 19th centuries. The building presents an irregular, battlemented sandstone frontage with a mix of medieval towers and Victorian additions and remains a private residence with historic interiors.
Its prime
1890
Today
Still standing
As it stood in 1890
What Hornby Castle looked like in its prime.
Sandstone rubble building with slate roofs and an irregular two-storey plan dominated by battlemented parapets; the entrance front has seven bays with projecting lateral bays and a central three-storey porch with an octagonal turret and diagonal buttress. Windows are mullioned or mullioned-and-transomed, including a prominent oriel above the porch and canted bay windows; a shorter square tower sits behind the porch and a taller narrow polygonal tower rises further left. Red climbing ivy covers much of the south facade.
Its story
The story of Hornby Castle.
The Neville Tower and the Stanley Rebuilding, 13th–16th Century
Hornby Castle is thought to have been built for the Neville family in the 13th century, the likeliest date for the base of the tower at the back of the house; in 1285 Margaret de Neville held it and "had writ for livery" there. The polygonal tower rising from that base is 16th-century work, probably raised for Sir Edward Stanley, 1st Baron Monteagle.
The Monteagle Barons and the Gunpowder Plot, 1536–1605
Stanley's son, the second Baron Monteagle, took part in suppressing the Rising of the North in 1536. The third Baron sold off much of the estate's land and, on his death in 1581, was succeeded by an only daughter, Elizabeth, who married Edward Parker, 12th Baron Morley. Their son William became the fourth Baron Monteagle and was the peer forewarned of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605.
The Civil War and the Sale to Charteris, 1643–1713
William's son Henry was a zealous Royalist at the start of the Civil War, and his estates were later declared forfeit and sold. The castle itself was captured by Colonel Assheton in 1643 and occupied in 1648 by the Duke of Hamilton's Scottish army. The family recovered the castle afterwards, but Henry's son Thomas, in straitened financial circumstances, was forced to sell it to Robert Brudenell, 2nd Earl of Cardigan, in 1663. Brudenell's grandson sold Hornby on in 1713 to the infamous Colonel Charteris.
Charteris, Wemyss and 'Silly Marsden,' 1720–1838
Charteris's daughter Janet married James Wemyss, 5th Earl of Wemyss, and the castle passed to their second son Francis, who took the Charteris surname and remodelled it around 1720. In 1789 Charteris sold Hornby to John Marsden of Wennington Hall, known as "Silly Marsden," who was under the control of his aunt and her husband, the ambitious George Wright; Marsden sold Wennington itself to pay for Hornby. After Marsden's death in 1826, a long legal battle over his will followed, and Admiral Sandford Tatham did not regain control of the property from the Wright family until 1838.
The Dawson Rebuild to Grade I Listing, 1838–1967
Tatham died in 1840 and left Hornby to his nephew Pudsey Dawson the younger, High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1845, who commissioned the Lancaster architects Sharpe and Paley to rebuild much of the structure between 1847 and 1850. They kept the older fabric, including the polygonal tower, but demolished or remodelled the section built for Charteris, rebuilding the front, adding wings and a portico, and replacing the round tower with a square one, at a cost of at least £1,300. In 1859 Dawson's nephew Richard Pudsey Dawson inherited the castle and sold it to John Foster, a Bradford mill owner; under Foster's ownership the practice's successors, Paley and Austin, added to the west side in 1879–82, and W. and R. Mawson of Bradford made further alterations in 1890. The castle then passed through Foster's son William to his son, Colonel William Henry Foster, High Sheriff in 1891 and MP for Lancaster from 1895 to 1900. In the mid-20th century some of the eastern rooms were removed to create a courtyard and the main internal staircase was taken out. Grade I listed since 1967, Hornby Castle remains a private residence, with its gardens opened for special events on advertised dates.
Step inside
12 places to explore in 1890.
The record describes 12 distinct spots at Hornby Castle, including 5 interiors: porch vaulted ceiling, great hall, tudor arch and fireplace, library with gillows woodwork and more. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
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Clans who held Hornby Castle.
The families that held Hornby Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Neville
The castle is thought to have been originally built for the Neville family in the 13th century.
Held by the Stanley Barons Monteagle from the 16th century until the third Baron's death in 1581.
Came by marriage to Edward Parker, 12th Baron Morley; his descendants held it until forced to sell in 1663.
Brudenell
Bought by Robert Brudenell, 2nd Earl of Cardigan, in 1663; his grandson sold it in 1713.
Charteris
Bought by Colonel Charteris in 1713; his grandson Francis Wemyss took the Charteris surname and remodelled the castle about 1720.
Nearby
