Studley Castle

Details

STUDLEY HARDWICKE LANE SP06SE (East side) 4/217 Studley Castle 11/12/69 (Formerly listed as Studley (Castle) College, Castle Road)

- II*

Shown on 0.S. map as Marketing Centre (Motor Industry). Country house, now offices. 1834, with early C20 wing. Designed by Samuel Beazley for Sir Francis Goodricke, baronet. Limestone ashlar with moulded stone string courses and cornices. Slate roofs behind parapets; ashlar stacks. Complex U-plan with central keep tower. Neo-Norman and Gothic Revival style, with 4-centred arches and Gothick sashes and casements. Largely symmetrical, 3-storey wings, 2-storey central range, 4-storey keep; 11-window range. Central range has slightly projecting 3-Say gabled centre with deeply recessed Tudor blank arch, diagonal buttresses and tourelles. Arched porte-cochere with hood mould and octagonal clasping buttresses continued up as finials. Mounting block in paving beneath. Entrance has wide glazed arch with arched hall-glazed double-leaf doors and panels. Intrados with plaster ogee niches. Lancets an each floor. 2-centre arched central window with Y-tracery. Remainder of central range has buttresses, square on ground floor, polygonal an first floor., Moulded cornice and parapet. Arched windows with hood moulds, most with Gothick sashes. First bay has half-glazed double-leaf doors. Octagonal Neo-Norman keep above and behind central range. 4 large 3-storey round angle projections. Corbel table. Lantern top has round-arched windows of 2 arched lights with hood moulds and head stops, and shafts with scalloped capitals. Machicolated top. Far-projecting wings have 4-stormy octagonal corner turrets; left wing has shaped gable. Turrets have anqle buttresses to ground floor. Lancets to alternate laces. String courses. Top stage with blind cross openings and machicolated tops. 2-storey, 2-light stone mullioned and transomed canted oriel, corbelled out. Right wing has double-leaf arched door with overlight and square headed windows, blind on left, flanking oriel. Inner sides of wings are 4-window range. Straight-headed windows on upper floors. Left return side of 3 bays with corner turrets. Projecting gable centre has polygonal buttresses. Arched Gothick windows. Central window in inched recess. Canted oriel on first floor. Gable has blocked 2-centred windows with Y-tracery. Some C20 windows inserted. Rear of wing has gable and turrets. Two arched lights and canted oriel. Garden front has central 2-storey gabled wing projecting forward from keep. Wide canted bay window. 3-light window above, Canted re-entrant angles have lancets. To left and right canted bays with blind arcaded parapets. Left range also has 2-light window, Ground floor windows have stone tracery. First floor has 3 two-light windows to left and right, and polygonal angle buttresses. Gabled right return side has round floor canted bay. 2-light window above. Service wing, set back on left, has early C20 additions and alterations. Irregular C20 fenestration, ending in giant blank lancet with 2-light staircase window with 5 transoms. Brick additions to top. Early/mid C20 red brick wing on left. Tile roof. 3 storey and attick with hipped dormers; 10-window range. End bays varied. Thin wood mullioned 2-light windows with leaded lights. Ground floor has 4-light mullioned and transomed windows, with brick buttresses between. interior: Plaster rib-vaulted entrance hall. Central octagonal hall to full height of keep. Painted Neo-Norman chimney-piece has round arch with chevron and bailhead decoration, and truncated shafts, with blind arcading of round arches above. Romanesque style grotesque masks. Wooden first floor gallery supported on 4-centred arches with heavy pendants. Gothic balustrade. Above, niches to each wall, one with classical statue. Moulded string course with angels. Lantern windows have coloured glass. Ceiling, has coats of arms on glass, much restored late C20. Dining Room to right has timber raise hanmer beam roof with arcided spandrels and moulded rib. Carved head corbels. Panelled ceiling. Black marble Gothic fireplace has detached piers and 4-centred arch. Archway to bay window. Octagonal room in centre of garden front has plaster rib vault. with foliage boss. Arcaded walls. Gothic panelling and bookcases. Drawing Room on left has 3-bay shallow rib-vaulted ceiling with enriched and gilt ribs. Gilt stiff-leaf corbels. Arcaded walls, with large overmantel mirror. Enriched ceiling panels and niches at each end. White marble Gothic chimneypiece has 4-centred arch and piers with niches. Open well staircase with cast iron Gothic balustrade and moulded handrail. Gothic arched and arcaded doors throughout. Samuel Beazley (1786-1851) was best known far theatrical work. (Buildings of England: Warwickshire, p.424; Burke's & Savill's Guide to Country Houses: Hertfordshire, Shropshire, Worcester and Warwickshire, pp.176-77).

Listing NGR: SP0881064074

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

305564

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Wedgwood, A, The Buildings of England: Warwickshire, (1966)
Reid, P, Burkes and Savills Guide to Country Houses in Herefordshire Shropshire Warwickshire Worcestershire, (1980)

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.