Wilton Castle (Redcar and Cleveland)

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Wilton Castle

Wilton Castle is a mansion dating from the early 19th century on the site of a medieval castle in the village of Wilton in English administrative unit Redcar and Cleveland was built. In the 21st century the house was converted into a number of luxury apartments. Wilton Castle has been listed as a Grade II Historic Building by English Heritage .

history

At the time of the Domesday Book it is documented that the property was owned by Nigel for Robert, Earl of Morton . John de Bulmer and the Bulmer family became landlords of Wilton, but it wasn't until the late 11th century that they built a wooden mansion on their land. In 1170 Sir Ralph de Bulmer received a royal charter confirming his possession.

King Johann Ohneland granted William de Bulmer a license to fortify his mansion in 1210 (English: License to crenellate). This meant that the house could be built in stone, marking the beginnings of the first castle as a fortified residence. 1330 was Sir Ralph de Bulmer a charter of his Fronhofes of King Edward III. who reaffirmed ownership of the property. Sir Ralph made further changes to the building and received it from King Edward III. also a permit to fortify the manor house, which made it possible to convert it into a castle.

All lands, including the Wilton estate, were forfeited to the Crown when Sir John Bulmer and his wife were convicted and executed on May 25, 1537 of high treason under the Supreme Act of 1534 for participating in the Pilgrimage of Grace in protest against the Brexit King Henry VIII from the Catholic Church had participated. The manor was established in 1547 by King Edward VI. returned to her nephew, Ralph de Bulmer (d. 1558).

In 1558 Queen Mary I gave the estate to Sir Thomas Cornwallis as a fief and in 1698 it fell to his great-grandson, Lord Charles Cornwallis, through his son and grandson . Lord Cornwallis sold the property to Sir Stephen Fox in the early 1700s . Sir Stephen's son by his second marriage was made Earl of Ilchester in 1747 and sold the property the following year.

The property was purchased by the legate of a Robert Lowther for Sir James Lowther (1736-1802), who was 1757-1784 Member of Parliament. Sir James Lowther was named first Earl of Lonsdale in 1784 , but the earldom was erased on his death in 1802.

Demolition and reconstruction

The castle fell into disrepair by 1805 and was largely in ruins. The property was bought around 1806 by a cousin, Sir John Lowther (1759–1844). He had the ruins of the medieval castle torn down around 1807 and a new, imposing mansion built on the property according to plans by Sir Robert Smirke . The first construction phase comprised the central block, the west wing and a short east wing. In a second construction phase, an octagonal tower was added to the east wing. The neo-Gothic building plan included a front facade with 15 bays and a four-story, crenellated tower in the middle, flanked by crenellated gable bays with turrets and wings with five bays and two floors. Lowther was promoted to baronet in 1824.

The iron industry was founded in Middlesbrough by Bolckow & Vaughan after iron ore was accidentally discovered in the Eston Hills in 1850 . The land belonged to the Lowthers. An area of ​​agricultural land was leased to Bolckow & Vaugham for an annual rent of £ 17,700 and this turnaround later funded the renovations.

Sir Charles Hugh Lowther, 3rd Baronet , (1803-1894) inherited the family baronet title in 1868 from his brother. The entire east wing with the octagonal tower was later demolished and replaced by a pavilion ballroom in 1887, which essentially led to the building that still exists today. Farmhouses and outbuildings on the estate were also demolished and rebuilt in a new village of Wilton out of sight of the manor. The main street was also moved further away from the front facade of the manor house. After the death of the 3rd Baronet in 1894, the title of baronet fell to the grandson, but the Wilton Castle estate to his younger son James Lowther (1840-1904).

James Lowther died in Wilton in 1904, leaving the manor to his nephew, Colonel George Lowther .

After the war

Colonel Lowther sold the property with Wilton Castle, his private residence, to Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) in 1945 . In 1946 employees of the new owner moved into Wilton Castle to plan the conversion of the property into a chemical plant. The property was designed as ICI Wilton and the entire mansion was converted into offices because the construction of new offices was restricted at the time. Well-known industrialists worked in the offices for a long time, such as Dr. Richard Beeching and Sir John Harvey Jones . After the restrictions on office building were lifted, employees were relocated to new offices in the factories, and in 1969 there were many empty offices in the mansion, but there were still dining and sleeping areas for visitors and a casino for the staff . In 1970 ICI carried out internal reallocations and hired Trust House to manage the buildings.

A golf course for ICI employees was created in the park and sold in 1999. The golf club was bought by its members and in 2001-2002 Wilton Castle was converted into 45 luxury apartments and single houses by George Wimpey Ltd.

Current condition

Today there are no traces of the building from 1210, but the inner walls east of the entrance are particularly thick and are believed to belong to the original tower. In 1952, English Heritage listed Wilton Castle as a Grade II Historic Building. Like Wilton Castle itself, the adjacent stables, the garden wall and the outer wall are listed as historical buildings of the second degree.

In film and television

The mansion was used as a location for the BBC drama series Spender in 1991 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Wilton Castle . In: British Listed Buildings . Retrieved September 16, 2015.
  2. ↑ a b Wilton Village . In: CommuniGate . Archived from the original on September 10, 2009. Retrieved October 26, 2009.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x K.WG: A History of Wilton Castle . Billingham Press, November 1973.
  4. ↑ a b Kirkleatham . In: British History Online . 2009. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
  5. ↑ Millennium Memories of Middelsborough, Thornaby & North Yorkshire in Evening Gazette . Teesside (November 16, 1999).
  6. ^ Reginald Lucas: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford University Press. 2004. Retrieved January 26, 2007.
  7. ^ Wilton Castle, Redcar - Ventrolla Sash Windows Case Studies . In: Ventrolla . July 1, 2002. Archived from the original on June 16, 2009. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
  8. ^ Wilton Castle . In: Images of England . 2007. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
  9. ↑ Stable Block Approximately 10 meters West of Wilton Castle . In: British Listed Buildings . Retrieved September 16, 2015.
  10. ^ Garden Wall South East of Wilton Castle . In: British Listed Buildings . Retrieved September 16, 2015.
  11. ↑ Retaining Wall and Stair to Forecourt of Wilton Castle . In: British Listed Buildings . Retrieved September 16, 2015.
  12. ^ Film and TV locations . In: BBC teas . May 2009. Retrieved September 16, 2015.

swell

  • John Walker Ord: The History and Antiquities of Cleveland . P. 384: History of Parish of Wilton . 1846.

Coordinates: 54 ° 34 ′ 8 ″  N , 1 ° 6 ′ 5 ″  W.