Ashton Hall

En un regard

Le château en bref

Ashton Hall stands about five kilometres south of Lancaster, on the eastern bank of the Lune, in a park overlooking the river's estuary. The building combines a powerful medieval tower house in reddish sandstone, rectangular in plan and flanked by diagonally set corner turrets, with a large crenellated mansion rebuilt in the mid-19th century in the Gothic Revival style. The tower, dated to the late 14th century, retains walls about 1.80 m thick and a crenellated parapet; it forms the south wing of the complex. The rest of the house, built around 1600 and later altered, was replaced in 1856 by a range in grey sandstone that follows the main lines of the earlier plan. The estate received royal guests, James I in 1617 and Charles II in 1651, and was for a long time a residence of the Dukes of Hamilton. Listed Grade I, it has been owned since 1993 by Lancaster Golf Club, which uses it as its clubhouse; several outbuildings (gatehouse, former stables) are also protected.