Hylton Castle
Hylton Castle is a stone castle in the North Hylton area of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England. Originally built from wood by the Hilton family shortly after the Norman Conquest in 1066, it was later rebuilt in stone in the late 14th to early 15th century. The castle underwent major changes to its interior and exterior in the 18th century and it remained the principal seat of the Hylton family until the death of the last Baron in 1746. It was then Gothicised but neglected until 1812, when it was revitalised by a new owner. Standing empty again until the 1840s, it was briefly used as a school until it was purchased again in 1862. The site passed to a local coal company in the early 20th century and was taken over by the state in 1950.
One of the castle's main features is the range of heraldic devices found mainly on the west façade, which have been retained from the castle's original construction. They depict the coats of arms belonging to local gentry and peers of the late 14th to early 15th centuries and provide an approximate date of the castle's reconstruction from wood to stone.
The castle is owned by English Heritage, a charity which manages the historical environment of England. The surrounding parkland is maintained by a community organisation. The castle and its chapel are protected as a Grade I listed building and a scheduled monument. In February 2016, plans were announced to turn the castle into a community facility and visitor attraction, with the Heritage Lottery Fund awarding £2.9 million, and Sunderland Council £1.5 million, to provide classrooms, a cafe and rooms for exhibitions, meetings and events.
History
Early history
The Hylton family had been settled in England since the reign of King Athelstan. At this time, Adam de Hylton gave to the monastery of Hartlepool a pyx or crucifix, weighing in silver and emblazoned with his coat of arms – argent, two bars azure. On the arrival of William the Conqueror, Lancelot de Hilton and his two sons, Robert and Henry, joined the Conqueror's forces, but Lancelot was killed at Faversham during William's advance to London. In gratitude, the king granted the eldest son, Henry, a large tract of land on the banks of the River Wear.The first castle on the site, built by Henry de Hilton in about 1072, was likely to have been built of wood. It was subsequently re-built in stone by Sir William Hylton as a four-storey, gatehouse-style, fortified manor house, similar in design to Lumley and Raby. Although called a gatehouse, it belongs to a type of small, late-14th-century castle, similar to Old Wardour, Bywell and Nunney castles. The castle was first mentioned in a household inventory taken in 1448, as "a gatehouse constructed of stone" and although no construction details survive, it is believed the stone castle was built sometime between 1390 and the early 15th century, due to the coat of arms featured above the west entrance. It has been suggested that Sir William intended to erect a larger castle in addition to the gatehouse, but abandoned his plan.
The household inventory taken on Sir William's death in 1435 mentions, in addition to the castle, a hall, four chambers, two barns, a kitchen, and the chapel, indicating the existence of other buildings on the site at that time. Apart from the castle and chapel, the other buildings were probably all of timber. In 1559, the gatehouse featured in another household inventory as the "Tower", when floors and galleries were inserted to subdivide the great hall.
The eccentric Henry Hylton, de jure 12th Baron Hylton left the castle to the City of London Corporation on his death in 1641, to be used for charitable purposes for ninety-nine years. It was returned to the family after the Restoration, to Henry's nephew, John Hylton, de jure 15th Baron Hylton.
18th century
Early in the 18th century, John Hylton, the second son of Henry Hylton, de jure 16th Baron Hylton, gutted the interior to form a three-storeyed block. He also inserted large, alternating, pedimented sash windows in the Italianate style and added a three-storeyed north wing to the castle. A doorway to the new wing was added and approached by a semi-circular staircase. Above the doorway was a coat of arms, believed to be the one created to commemorate the marriage between John Hylton and his wife, Dorothy Musgrave. It is now located above the doorway to The Golden Lion Inn at South Hylton, on the opposite side of the River Wear.After 1728, Hylton's second son, John Hylton, de jure 18th Baron Hylton added a complementary south wing, crenellations to both wings and removed the door on the north wing. He also changed the circular bartizan on the north end of the west front, to an octagonal turret and removed the portcullis from the west entrance.
When the 18th and last "baron" died without male heirs in 1746, the castle passed to his nephew, Sir Richard Musgrave, Bt, who took the name of Hylton. It was sold by a private act of Parliament, , in 1749. The new owner was to be a Mr. Wogan who returned from the East Indies to buy the castle for £30,550, but the sale never went through. It was instead bought by Lady Bowes, the widow of Sir George Bowes of Streatlam and Gibside in County Durham. No record of her, or any of her family, ever taking up residence exists and the castle later passed to her grandson, John Bowes, 10th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. At this time, a stucco decoration to the wine and drawing rooms was added by Pietro La Francini, who worked for Daniel Garrett. William Howitt's Visits to Remarkable Places notes the rooms had "stuccoed ceilings, with figures, busts on the walls, and one large scene which seemed to be Venus and Cupid, Apollo fiddling to the gods, Minerva in her helmet, and an old king". Garrett probably designed the Gothic porch installed in the west entrance and the Gothic screen and single-storey, bow-fronted rooms installed to close off the east entrance.
19th century
After a long period of remaining empty, the castle slowly began to decay, until in 1812, when Simon Temple, a local businessman, leased the castle from the Strathmores and made it habitable. He re-roofed the chapel, added battlements to the wings and cultivated the gardens. However, his failed business ventures prevented him from completing his work, and in 1819 the castle was lived in by a Mr. Thomas Wade.By 1834, the castle was unoccupied again. In 1840, an advert was placed in the Newcastle Courant by Revd. John Wood for "Hylton Castle Boarding School" and the 1841 census shows Wood, his family, pupils and staff as living on the estate. Joseph Swan was one of the pupils there around this time. The school does not seem to have existed for long as Howitt commented in 1842, that it was "a scene of great desolation ... the windows for the most part, all along the front, are boarded up ... the whole of this large old house is now empty ... and in the most desolate state". However, he does go on to say the kitchen was occupied a poor family. By 1844, the chapel was used as a carpenter's workshop, and according to the Durham Chronicle in January 1856, the castle set on fire while in the occupation of a farmer, Mr. Maclaren.
In 1862, the castle was put up for sale by the Strathmores and purchased by William Briggs, a local timber merchant and ship builder. Briggs set about to change the appearance of the castle to what he believed to be more "authentic medieval". He demolished the north and south wings, gutted the interior and added one, two and three-light cusp-headed windows. He also replaced the Gothic porch with a more "severe" Gothic doorway and an overhead balcony. To carry out these changes to the west front, he moved the stone-carved Hylton banner from above the west entrance to the front, left-flanking tower. The interior walls of the four-vaulted ground floor rooms were demolished, the whole floor was raised three-and-a-half feet and two reception rooms were formed. At the east end of the former central passage, dog-leg stairs were constructed leading to the first floor, requiring removal of the oratory and rendering the main staircase inaccessible from the ground floor. The side walls of the great hall were removed to create a large salon and a large bay window was added to the south façade, where the entrance to the south wing would have been. The rooms above were kept untouched, except that a new entrance to the family/chaplain's room had to be formed via the main staircase.
Alongside the medieval masonry, Briggs' alterations can still be seen today. Briggs' son, Colonel Charles James Briggs inherited the castle in 1871 and built the nearby St Margaret's church.
20th century
After Colonel Briggs' death in 1900, the castle passed into the hands of the Wearmouth Coal Company about 1908, and from there to the National Coal Board. Due to the expansion of Sunderland in the 1940s, the castle became surrounded by housing estates including those of Castletown and Hylton Castle. The castle was vandalised and had the lead from its roof stolen. In 1950, due to local pressure and the threat of demolition, the castle and chapel were taken into the care of the Ministry of Works. Due to the advanced decay of the 19th-century alterations, the ministry removed all internal partitions and consolidated the shell to reveal the remaining medieval masonry. The ministry also appointed a full-time custodian and replaced the missing lead roof with roofing felt to make the site waterproof.In 1994, Channel 4's Time Team undertook excavations on the Eastern Terrace. Their investigations revealed evidence of a medieval hall to the east of the castle; it has been suggested that the hall was used as a dining area.
Chapel
A chapel dedicated to St Catherine of Alexandria is known to have existed on the site since 1157, when the Prior of Durham agreed to allow Romanus de Hilton to appoint his own chaplain for the chapel, subject to the prior's approval. In return, de Hilton was to provide an annual contribution of 24 sheaves of oats for every draught ox he owned, to the nearby monastery at Monkwearmouth, and was required to attend the mother church of St Peters for the feasts of the Nativity, Easter, Whitsuntide and Saints Peter and Paul. In 1322, there was a chantry dedicated to the Virgin Mary and there were three chantry priests in 1370.The chapel, which is on a small embankment to the north east of the castle, was rebuilt in stone in the early 15th century. It was modified from the late 15th to late 16th century, when a Perpendicular Gothic, five-light east window and transepts were added. Bucks' engraving of 1728, shows a short nave and a large six-light west window, and that the chapel was disused by this time, as it had no roof. The west façade of the chapel was later demolished and the chancel arch was built up to form a new one with a Gibbs surround. A bell-turret was added c. 1805. On the north and south sides of the chapel are two transeptal, semi-octagonal bays.
Although repairs to the chapel were carried out by the last Baron Hylton and the successive owners in the 19th century, it fell into disrepair until, like the castle, it was taken over by the state in 1950.