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Summary

The ruins of a 16th century Elizabethan mansion.

Full description

The ruins of a brick with stone quoins, doorways and windows Elizabethan Manor. {1}

The impressive ruins of an Elizabethan mansion. Good river frontage survives. The facade has four octagonal towers, with a central entrance gap. It is three storeys high, the bottom half built with stone facing. The remainder is brick with stone quoins. There are the remains of large square headed, stone framed windows, staircases and the gable ends. On the first floor there are stone framed fireplaces with zig-zag decoration and some blocked-up arches with a number of charred beams visible... A kitchen area with brick and stone hearth, including one with a Tudor rose decoration. The fabric is generally in a reasonable condition, with a few creepers in places but none with a major hold. There are a number of large cracks though, a central one supported by a large brick pillar. {2}

The stonework is a mixture of Lias and Lincolnshire limestones on the ground floor. The upper floors are in brick with stone quoins. There is superb drapes patterned brickwork on the south-east towers. Generally the building is alternate header and stretcher (English bond). {3}{4}{5}

See the copy of the listing description in the parish file. {6}{7}{8}

The remains of Torksey Castle were the subject of a building survey and management appraisal in 2013. The survey identified that significant loss of fabric from the upper levels has occurred since the second half of the twentieth century, with large areas of the fabric covered by ivy. Some cracking and loss of stonework has also occurred, especially to the western elevation. Torksey Castle has often been dated to about 1560 and the house is associated with the Jermyn family of Rushebrook, an eminent and strongly puritan family from Suffolk. It was not they who had the house built, however, as the Will of Sir Robert Jermyn (d.1614) states that he inherited the house from his father who had purchased it from the Thorpe family. In 1645, during the English Civil War, the house was occupied by Parliamentarian forces and on Friday 1 August 1645 Royalist troops stationed at Newark captured the house. The Royalist forces subsequently fired the house and returned to Newark. The property remained with the Jermyn family but was clearly in a ruinous state by the time it was illustrated by Samuel Buck in 1726. Buck’s drawing notes that the building belonged to Sir Jermyn Davers in 1726 but the house and property in Torksey were sold to the Duke of Newcastle, who subsequently sold it to Sir Abraham Hume. An estate map of 1751, showing Hume’s property in Torksey, indicates the position of the house and the position of the lost north, east and south ranges forming a courtyard plan. The plot of the property extends east up to Main Street in Torksey. In 1810 Torksey Castle passed to the Cust family with whom it remained throughout the 19th century. For while part of the house was used as a stable. By the late 19th century pretty much only the western facade of the building survived on the flood plain of the River Trent. {9}

<1> MINISTRY OF WORKS, MOW 819, - (Scheduling Record). SLI4240.

<2> HBMC, 1981, AM 12, - (Scheduling Record). SLI4059.

<3> HBMC, 1986, AM 107, - (Scheduling Record). SLI4015.

<4> AAR, VOL 12, PT II, P158 (Article in Serial). SLI210.

<5> 1945-84, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY COLLECTION, FP 26-8,30,1951, (Aerial Photograph). SLI173.

<6> Department of the Environment, 1985, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 2/78 (Index). SLI8885.

<7> 1945-84, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY COLLECTION, JE36,37,1952, (Aerial Photograph). SLI173.

<8> COLE, C., 1993-2002, InnerVisions Business Presentations, 220/0298/25A,1998, (Aerial Photograph). SLI181.

<9> Anderson and Glenn, 2013, Torksey Castle Appraisal, - (Report). SLI14307.

Monument Types

• MANOR HOUSE (Post Medieval to Modern - 1540 AD to 2050 AD)

Associated Events

• Torksey Castle Building Survey

Protected Status

• Listed Building
• SHINE
• Scheduled Monument

Sources and further reading

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