Twizell Castle
TWIZELL CASTLE, A698
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1042168
- Date first listed:
- 22-Dec-1969
- List Entry Name:
- Twizell Castle
- Statutory Address:
- TWIZELL CASTLE, A698
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 1999-08-21
- Reference:
- IOE01/00830/08
- Rights:
- © Dr Edward Salthouse. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1042168
- Date first listed:
- 22-Dec-1969
- List Entry Name:
- Twizell Castle
- Statutory Address 1:
- TWIZELL CASTLE, A698
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- TWIZELL CASTLE, A698
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Northumberland (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Duddo
- National Grid Reference:
- NT 88298 43407
Details
DUDDO A 698 NT 84 SE (North side, off) 4/47 Twizell Castle 22.12.69 II*
Ruined house. Begun c.1770 by and for Sir Francis Blake with the assistance of Nisbet of Kelso, but incorporating some of the masonry of a medieval castle.
Ashlar and squared stone; roofless. Gothick style. Rectangular with 4 round corner towers. Two storeys, though the house was originally five storeys high. Seven bays. Pointed windows with brick arches, the central window in a semicircular projection. Much taller pointed windows on 1st floor. On returns large blank quatrefoils.
The original north wall, between the towers, has gone. The present north wall was formerly internal and is partly medieval with openings of the C18 and blocked earlier openings including large segmental arches and a 2-light mullioned window. This wall is c.70 inches thick.
Interior: the ground floor has 4 large vaulted rooms along the south front. Three are tunnel vaults, the fourth, behind the central bow has a central groin vault with 2 flanking tunnel vaults. All of these are in fine ashlar. The west vault has holes for a timber floor. The angle towers were also vaulted on ground floor; of these the south-west tower has a shallow stone dome and the south-east tower a brick dome. In the north towers only the springing of the vaults remain. There are also 2 corridors with pointed brick tunnel vaults and two small rooms whose vaults have collapsed. On the present north wall the springing of a groin vault can be seen at lst-floor level.
Building on the house was continued for almost 50 years and never completed. The house was to be vaulted throughout as a precaution against fire.
Mackenzie: History of Northumberland: Newcastle: 1825. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquities 2nd Series Vol. IV for the reference to Nisbet in a letter from Ford Castle.
Listing NGR: NT8829843407
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 238015
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Mackenzie, E, View of the County of Northumberland, (1825)
Journal of the Society of Antiquaries of London in Journal of the Society of Antiquaries of London, Vol. 4, ()
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries Second Series in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries Second Series, Vol. 4, ()
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 09-Jun-2026 at 18:35:38.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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