# Torksey Castle, Lincolnshire, February 2015



## HughieD (Feb 21, 2015)

OK, this one is a bit of a gem. Don’t know how I didn’t know about this place but discovered it recently when researching new locations. It’s been covered on here a long time ago so about time Torksey Castle got another report done on it. The day I visited the light was really, really flat but I didn’t let that put me off as I parked up in the village and made my way over to the site. Torksey isn’t a real castle but more of a manor house. It is located in the centre of the village of Torksey on the east bank of the River Trent in Lincolnshire. To be more precise it is a 16th-century Tudor stone-built fortified manor house founded by the Jermyn family of Suffolk. It’s perhaps no surprise that the building is on the Buildings at Risk Register. The site is “strictly private, with no public access” and is only just visible from the A156 road that runs through Torksey. In the hands of English Heritage it would no doubt pull in a steady stream of tourists.

It is not known why Torksey Castle was built. It may have been built as a ‘waypoint’ for the Jermyn family's travels to York or as a gift to one of their sons. The manor was constructed the latest Renaissance fashion. The lower or ground floor level is built of thin limestone blocks and has small mullioned windows. This part of the house was probably used as the domestic area where the servants would have worked. The upper level is built in brick which, at the time, was considered a lavish building material. The hall consisted of a planned series of ranges around a square courtyard. 

In 1645 the property fell victim to the English Civil War when the Royalist Jermyn family had the house seized by the Parliamentarians and was in return burned by Royalist soldiers based up the road at Newark. After this very little of the structure remained. The Jermyn family retained control of the estate post- Civil War but the property was not restored and continued to deteriorate. The remains of the buildings were scavenged for building supplies by local residents to reuse. Also due to the hall’s close proximity to the flood-prone River Trent, flooding has contributed to the manor’s demise. In the 1990’s English Heritage undertook the stabilisation of the building (as can be clearly seen from some of the pictures.

Hope you like the pictures and thanks for looking!

Close up of the mullioned windows:


img7509 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Two of the towers:


img7508 by HughieDW, on Flickr

General view of Torksey:


img7504 by HughieDW, on Flickr

A brick and limestone range of the first floor:


img7499 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Rear view clearly showing the stabilisation work English Heritage undertook in the 1990s:


img7498 by HughieDW, on Flickr

On the inside looking out:


img7489bw by HughieDW, on Flickr

Looking up one of the towers:


img7480 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Close up of the manor’s façade:


img7478 by HughieDW, on Flickr


img7471 by HughieDW, on Flickr

More general shots:


img7476 by HughieDW, on Flickr


img7475 by HughieDW, on Flickr


img7472 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Up chimney shot:


img7465 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Another shot up one of the manor’s towers:


img7459 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Close up of the rear elevation:


img7510 by HughieDW, on Flickr

External of one of the towers:


img7457 by HughieDW, on Flickr


----------



## brickworx (Feb 21, 2015)

Nice - I like that....thanks


----------



## flyboys90 (Feb 21, 2015)

Beautiful structure and great photos.


----------



## HughieD (Feb 21, 2015)

Cheers guys....


----------



## tumble112 (Feb 21, 2015)

Really nice, like this a lot.


----------



## HughieD (Feb 21, 2015)

tumble1 said:


> Really nice, like this a lot.



Cheers Mr Tumble. Fancy a revisit in better light.


----------



## smiler (Feb 21, 2015)

Nicely Done, Thanks


----------



## The Wombat (Feb 22, 2015)

Not seen this before
Going to put this on the list next time im in Lincolnshire
good work fella


----------



## HughieD (Feb 22, 2015)

The Wombat said:


> Not seen this before
> Going to put this on the list next time im in Lincolnshire
> good work fella



Cheers Mr Wombat. Yeah....get this Tudor gem on yer list. I know the area pretty well and this evaded my attention til now.


----------



## Dirus_Strictus (Feb 23, 2015)

Nice set of photos Sir. First introduced to this place in summer of 1948 whilst on a picnic to celebrate my brother's first birthday. In those days you could walk far closer to the structure - no H & S concerns over falling masonry in those days. To be honest the structure has looked much the same over the ensuing years, apart from the ever changing undergrowth and greenery that is. It is a shame that E H's stabilisation work has to stand out so - I know that work of that type must be clearly seen as modern additions, but surely they could have blended in the colour better, so that the work did not look so stark and stand out so. 

The mixed brick and stone construction is quite interesting. At the time this was built there was still real unrest between the Guild of Master Masons and the gangs of roving bricklayers who were laying these newfangled things. Bricklayers had their tools destroyed and in one recorded instance, a bricklayer was so badly beaten by a mason that he died. The Guild defended the mason on the grounds that 'he was defending his livelihood' and he got off very lightly - four days in the local nick!!


----------



## HughieD (Feb 23, 2015)

Dirus_Strictus said:


> Nice set of photos Sir. First introduced to this place in summer of 1948 whilst on a picnic to celebrate my brother's first birthday. In those days you could walk far closer to the structure - no H & S concerns over falling masonry in those days. To be honest the structure has looked much the same over the ensuing years, apart from the ever changing undergrowth and greenery that is. It is a shame that E H's stabilisation work has to stand out so - I know that work of that type must be clearly seen as modern additions, but surely they could have blended in the colour better, so that the work did not look so stark and stand out so.
> 
> The mixed brick and stone construction is quite interesting. At the time this was built there was still real unrest between the Guild of Master Masons and the gangs of roving bricklayers who were laying these newfangled things. Bricklayers had their tools destroyed and in one recorded instance, a bricklayer was so badly beaten by a mason that he died. The Guild defended the mason on the grounds that 'he was defending his livelihood' and he got off very lightly - four days in the local nick!!



What a totally fascinating story. Thank you for sharing that. And yes...exactly my thoughts re the EH work. Saw some old engravings of the place when I was doing my research and yes it has not changed much over the last two hundred or so years.


----------



## UrbanX (Feb 24, 2015)

What a lovely old place, thanks for sharing


----------

