- High Head Castle
High Head Castle is a large fortified
manor house in the English county ofCumbria . It is located betweenCarlisle and Penrith. The house is now little more than aruin with just the mere exterior walls and certain foundations surviving. It is currently privately owned, and the owners have now for some time been trying to restore it to its former glory.The site was originally occupied by the Kings Castle in the Forest of Inglewood. The earliest written record is of the original castle is from
1272 . This castle was a medieval squarepele tower within acurtain wall .The first known occupants of the house were the Richmond family who bought and extended the house in the
16th century . Only its western wing remains, with its unmistakable straight headed mullioned windows with round-arched lights under hood moulds, although attached to the south-west corner of this wing is the basement of a square tower which presents evidence of14th century work.The house was later sold to the
Baron Brougham and Vaux who made some alterations. One member of the family, H. Richmond Brougham, had a new facade built in 1744-8. It is eleven bays long, with a pedimented three-bay centre, and a walled front garden with coupledIonic columns . When the Broughams no longer required the house they rented it out for some time. The only known people to have rented it were the Cavaghan family (co-foundeders ofCavaghan & Gray ) who lived in the house for around three years during the thirties.The castle was largely destroyed by fire in
1956 , and is now little more than a shell. Both the medieval wing and the principal house areGrade 2 listed . Adjacent is a fine stable quadrangle with heavy rustication, a steep pediment gable and cupola.External links
* [http://www.ihbc.org.uk/context_archive/22/High%20Head%20Castle_dir/High%20Head%20Castle_s.htm Article on the Institute of Historic Building Conservation]
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