England · Partial ruin
Kirtling Tower
Kirtling Tower was a medieval castle converted in the 16th century into a large Tudor country house known as Kirtling Hall. Most of the house was demolished in the 18th–19th centuries; the three-storey brick Tudor gatehouse survives and was adapted as a residence. The site occupies a raised ridge with remaining earthworks and garden terraces.
Its prime
1660
Today
Partial ruin
As it stood in 1660
What Kirtling Tower looked like in its prime.
A three-storey red-brick Tudor gatehouse with prominent octagonal corner turrets and a projecting Italianate oriel window dominates the composition; the brickwork is warm-coloured Flemish-bond and the roofline is crenellated in places. Behind and to each side lay a broad, symmetrical two-storey south-facing range with east and west wings; low brick garden walls and formal terraces step down the ridge. The complex sat on a raised platform with ponds and garden channels, surrounded by parkland and scattered trees.
Its story
The story of Kirtling Tower.
Kirtling was a medieval castle substantially rebuilt in 1424 by Richard de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, with a hundred oak trees used to create a complex with a parlour, a solar and chambers. In the 16th century it became a great Tudor country house, Kirtling Hall, seat of the North family, sitting atop one of the tallest hills of a ridge commanding a view of two shires.
Queen Elizabeth I stayed three days at Kirtling in September 1578 as the guest of Roger North, 2nd Baron North, the most powerful man in the region, Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire and High Steward of Cambridge, during her state procession across the county; the visit cost him £642. Scholars have linked the house to Edmund Spenser, argued to have met Elisa North at festivities here, and George North wrote his manuscript A Brief Discourse of Rebellion and Rebells at Kirtling Hall.
Much of the castle was pulled down in 1748 to make the remainder habitable for Lord Elibank, and the property declined again after his death in 1762. The main feature today is the three-storeyed Tudor brick gatehouse, adapted as a residence, closely resembling the gatehouse at Leez Priory in Essex, built by North's friend and fellow lawyer Richard Rich.
Step inside
10 places to explore in 1660.
The record describes 10 distinct spots at Kirtling Tower, including 5 interiors: gate passage through the gatehouse, oriel window detail, banqueting house / great hall interior 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 Kirtling Tower.
The families that held Kirtling Tower for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Beauchamp
Richard de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, substantially rebuilt the castle in 1424.
North
Seat of the North family; Roger North, 2nd Baron North, entertained Elizabeth I here for three days in September 1578.
Nearby
