The Castle North Range
THE CASTLE NORTH RANGE, PALACE GREEN
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1160921
- Date first listed:
- 06-May-1952
- List Entry Name:
- The Castle North Range
- Statutory Address:
- THE CASTLE NORTH RANGE, PALACE GREEN
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
 |
Buildings |
 |
Scheduled monuments |
 |
Parks and gardens |
 |
Battlefields |
 |
Shipwrecks |
Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2001-03-03
- Reference:
- IOE01/03609/25
- Rights:
- © Mr Bob Cottrell. Source: Historic England Archive
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1160921
- Date first listed:
- 06-May-1952
- List Entry Name:
- The Castle North Range
- Statutory Address 1:
- THE CASTLE NORTH RANGE, PALACE GREEN
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:
- THE CASTLE NORTH RANGE, PALACE GREEN
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- County Durham (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- City of Durham
- National Grid Reference:
- NZ 27351 42386
Details
DURHAM AND FRAMWELLGATE PALACE GREEN
NZ 2742 SW (North side)
14/356 The Castle: north range
6/5/52
GV I
Castle chapels, Constable's hall and galleries; now college. Lower chapel
probably c.1072 for William I; c.11OO building for Bishop Flambard; C12
rebuilding for Le Puiset; C15 and C16 additions for Fox and Tunstall, and
C17 for Cosin and Crewe; alterations and interiors by Sanderson Miller for
Bishop Trevor (1753-1771). Coursed squared sandstone with ashlar dressings;
roofs not visible. Tall 7-bay hall has high storey above 2-storey, 5-bay
gent gallery; projecting stair wing at right links to 2-storey, 5-bay chapel.
Gallery has renewed Tudor-arched surround to door in 4th bay; buttresses
define bays, the first 3 each having a door in chamfered Tudor-arched surround,
and 2-light ground-floor and 3-light mullioned-and-transomed first-floor
windows. Ground-floor drip string and first-floor label mould; similar windows
in 5th bay; 5-light window over door. Arms of Bishop Tunstall in third bay.
Battlemented parapet on string. Hall above has Tudor-arched windows with
intersecting glazing bars in hollow reveals under ogee dripmoulds. 6th bay
has large coat of arms. Battlemented parapet on string; high square turret
at right end. Battlemented polygonal stair turret has flat, Tudor-arched door
in left return, and 2-light front windows under clock; floor strings;
battlemented parapet on string. Chapel has irregular fenestration on 3 floors
in first bay with Tudor-headed lights and label moulds; 3 slightly-stepped
lights under elliptical dripmoulds in other bays; buttress between second
and third. Battlemented parapet on string. Rainwater head dated 1661 at
left on pipe with lion masks on lugged fixings. 1699 on that at right, with
mitre, crown and lions on fixings.
Interior: much early fabric, notably C11 chapel at north-east with 2 arcades
of 4 bays; round piers, with historiated capitals support groined vaults;
herringbone paving probably original. C12 hall entrance, of 3 richly-moulded
orders; south wall of hall shows upper-level chevron-moulded arcade with
alternately-blind arches on paired shafts. West wall reverts to stepped groups.
North-west corner turret has c.1350 keeled vault with closely-set wide ribs.
Passage from hall door has chevron string; behind and to the right are the
Octagon room and the Senate room, with panelling; Jacobean chimney piece
re-sited from Old Exchequer building, Palace Green. Inserted in west end of
hall are the Bishop's Rooms; these have mid-C18 decoration with richly-carved
flower and ribbon decoration on corniced chimney-pieces, and rococo plaster
on beamed ceilings. Early C16 chapel off east newel stair, extended in C17
and C18, with C17 woodwork of high quality: west screen, panelled ceiling,
stalls from Auckland Palace with misericords and poppyheads. East window
1909 by Kempe. Behind west end of gallery a rich C17 single flight of stairs
leads to the Senior Common Room, decorated in 1751 by Sanderson Miller in
Gothic revival style, as Bishop's dining room.
Sources: V.C.H, 1928, reprint 1968; III, 64-91; Pevsner, revised Williamson
Buildings of England: Durham. 1983, 212-218.
Listing NGR: NZ2735142386
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 110411
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Durham, (1928), 64-91
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: County Durham, (1983), 212-218
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 05-Jun-2026 at 11:01:32.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.