Details
This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 23/11/2017
NU 00 NE
17/36
CALLALY
Callaly Castle
21.10.53
GV
I
Country house, subdivided into apartments in 1987. C14 and later, in particular additions of 1676 by Robert Trollope, various C15 dates and 1890 by Mr Stephenson of Berwick. For the Clavering and after 1877 the Browne family.
Dressed stone and ashlar. Welsh slate roofs. A very large house, irregular in plan, probably originally of hall and cross wing plan and now classical in character.
South front: Three storeys 2:5:1 bays. Five-bay centre with projecting wings. Centre, probably an older hall range, remodelled by Trollope 1676, central doorway with Corinthian columns, multi-moulded surround and Tudor-arched lintel inscribed RMC for Ralph and Mary Clavering. Large, well-carved coat of arms of Ralph Clavering above, with inscription in frame of strapwork. Dated sundial in ornamental frame above that. Flanking windows set very close to door. Windows have multi-moulded surrounds, pulvinated oak-leaf friezes and open pediments framing trophies, dolphins etc. Top cornice and parapet, added 1749, has cut off the second floor pediments. Twelve-pane sashes with thick glazing bars. Projecting wing to left was a pele tower; walls 7ft thick refaced 1749 in ashlar with sash windows in architraves. West wall rebuilt c1840. Dated sundial in parapet. Projecting wing to right is dated 1707 and has windows in architraves with finely detailed wedge lintels. Clavering coat of arms in parapet. However this wing seems older, walls 4ft thick and old masonry in east wall (cf morning room interior).
East front: In two sections. Three-storey, six-bay section to left has slightly projecting ashlar centre of 1750 with Venetian doorway and two Venetian windows above. Older masonry to left of door and 12-pane sash windows, largely with thick glazing bars in flat raised surrounds. Right of this the ballroom and museum wing, large additions of 1890, an exact copy of the detail of the Trollope building.
West or central front: has the former tower projecting to right, a projecting wing of 1836, heightened and altered 1893, on left and a four-bay centre. Doorway, squeezed into corner on right, dated 1727 in Gibbs surround, the keystone, carved with Clavering arms and an angel, surmounted by decorative finial. Slightly later Venetian window over with thick glazing bars. Ground and first floor windows are replacements of 1836 in raised surrounds. Second floor has original narrower windows in moulded surrounds, the centre one carved with foliage. North wall of wing to right, ie rear of tower and Trollope wing, has blocked early C18 two storey, three bay loggia with round arches of Vanbrughian character. Irregular hipped and gabled roofs with many corniced stacks.
Interior: The Drawing room is the principal room, elaborately redecorated by Italian Stuccatori in the Roccoco style in 1757. James Paine may have been the designer. The room is two storeys high with coved ceiling. It has balconies at each end supported by marble Tuscan columns and with balustrades in 'Chinese Chippendale' style with Gothick centre panels.
Other rooms: Staircase of c1720-30 with turned balusters and square knobs, lit by Venetian window with Corinthian detail. Smoking room: redecorated c1840 in French style with marble fireplace and niches. Clavering crest in ceiling. Front hall has screen of two fluted columns with elliptical arches. Pavilion: Late Victorian with cast iron balconies and four storey cast-iron spiral stair. Morning room: two pieces of Elizabethan panelling found behind early C18 panelling in 1934 are now preserved in the pavilion.
The late C19 north wing is not of the same special quality as the rest of the building.
Northumberland County History Vol XIV. Callaly Castle, Garden and Grounds :
Major A S C Browne: 1985.
Listing NGR: NU0527009879
