Tattershall Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Rising above the Lincolnshire plains, the great tower of Tattershall is one of the most spectacular examples of brick building in medieval England. This rectangular residential keep, with four polygonal corner turrets, rises five storeys above a vaulted cellar and is crowned by a crenellated parapet carried on machicolations. The tower was commissioned by Ralph Cromwell, Lord Treasurer of England under Henry VI, on the site of a 13th-century castle. More than a defensive work, it displayed the wealth and rank of its patron: red brick enlivened with dark diaper patterns, great carved fireplaces in Ancaster stone bearing the Cromwell arms, a brick-vaulted gallery, and an audience chamber and private chamber stacked one above the other. The whole was surrounded by two moats and accompanied by a great hall that has since disappeared. Abandoned in the 17th century, the tower was nearly stripped in 1910–1911 when its fireplaces were ripped out to be sold. Lord Curzon bought it, had the fireplaces brought back and restored it before bequeathing it to the National Trust, which opens it to the public together with the remains of the moats and outbuildings.