Peckforton Castle
Victorian country house built as a medieval-style castle in Cheshire.
It is the only fully extant medieval-style castle in England, built in the style of an Edward I castle.[1] The structure is designated as Grade I and features an exterior of red sandstone, with roofing materials that include lead, asphalt, and tile.[2] Currently, the venue operates as a hotel and hosts weddings along with corporate functions.[3]
Quick Facts
- Location
- Peckforton, Cheshire, England
- Elevation
- 469.2 ft / 143 m
- Built
- 1844–50
- Built for
- John Tollemache, 1st Baron Tollemache
- Architect
- Anthony Salvin
- Architecture
- Gothic Revival
Facts from the source article.
Geography and history
The castle was built between 1844 and 1850 for John Tollemache, the largest landowner in Cheshire at the time.[4] Anthony Salvin was appointed as architect, and the castle was built by Dean and Son of Leftwich.[4] Building materials came from a quarry located roughly one mile west of the construction site, and a dedicated railway line was constructed to transport the stone.[2] Despite being intended as a residence for a family, its architectural style replicated a medieval fortress, complete with a gatehouse, portcullis, dry moat, and narrow arrow slits.[5]
The total expenditure for the castle's construction was £60,000.[2]
What the cited sources add
The DiCamillo account notes that Sir George Gilbert Scott called Peckforton "the very height of masquerading".[1] Kostick describes the castle as "a Disney style of castle, more about decoration than the science of war".[6] The castle's own website states that the Naylor family invested into the castle on 20 June 2006 to provide a wedding and hospitality destination.[7] A 1998 Warrington Guardian article notes that Evelyn Graybill purchased the property in 1988 for £1 million and obtained permission to turn it into a hotel with 50 bedrooms.[8]
A fire during a wedding in June 2011 caused extensive damage, with repair costs estimated at about £6 million.[3]
References
- "Peckforton Castle", DiCamillo. facts only, no text reused. thedicamillo.com
- Wikipedia, "Peckforton Castle" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Peckforton Castle" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bate, "Kings of the Castle", sandstonenews.co.uk, September 2014; Burn Callander, "Wedded to the idea of a castle business", The Telegraph, 2014-01-07; "Welcome to Peckforton Castle", Peckforton Castle (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Peckforton Castle" (CC BY-SA 4.0) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Peckforton Castle" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; ; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Kostick, "Treasure Trap and LARP", Level Up. facts only, no text reused. levelup.pub
- "Welcome to Peckforton Castle", Peckforton Castle. facts only, no text reused. peckfortoncastle.co.uk
- "Hotel dream is no castle in the air", Warrington Guardian, 1998-09-10. facts only, no text reused. warringtonguardian.co.uk
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Peckforton Castle (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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