A castle transformed Gilling Castle, North Yorkshire, part I A property of the Ampleforth Abbey Trust
GILLING CASTLE does not obviously declare either its depth of history or its exceptional interest. It stands at the point of a steep-sided ridge overlooking the Vale of Pickering, yet the main front today decisively turns its back on the view and masks the architectural complexity of the building. To the modern visitor, therefore, who approaches up a densely wooded bank from the village beneath, the impression is not of a castle commanding its surrounds—a relationship only apparent from a distance (Fig 2)—but of a large, coherent Georgian country house enclosed by trees.
As it is initially revealed, the castle comprises a central block five window bays wide flanked by two strikingly long wings that terminate in pavilions, originally a library and Catholic chapel. The front is low, with a shallow basement and upper storey. Between them is a much deeper principal floor lit with tall windows. For all the relative simplicity of the design, however, the walls are of costly cut stone and the architectural detail carefully modulated to emphasise the central, entrance bay of the building.
Such outward restraint lends a theatrical flourish to the experience of walking up. Its stone-flagged floor is trimmed with black marble and the space is detailed with moulded plasterwork. A deep internal cornice demarcates a lofty, lower register to the room from a clerestory and vault above.
