page_title: Hylton Castle
section_title: Exterior
hierarchical_section_title: Hylton Castle / Exterior
caption_attribution_description: English: Rooftop of Hylton Castle
context_page_description: Hylton Castle is a stone castle in the North Hylton area of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England. Originally built from wood by the Hilton family shortly after the Norman Conquest in 1066, it was later rebuilt in stone in the late 14th to early 15th century. The castle underwent major changes to its interior and exterior in the 18th century and it remained the principal seat of the Hylton family until the death of the last Baron in 1746. It was then Gothicised but neglected until 1812, when it was revitalised by a new owner. Standing empty again until the 1840s, it was briefly used as a school until it was purchased again in 1862. The site passed to a local coal company in the early 20th century and was taken over by the state in 1950.
  One of the castle's main features is the range of heraldic devices found mainly on the west façade, which have been retained from the castle's original construction. They depict the coats of arms belonging to local gentry and peers of the late 14th to early 15th centuries and provide an approximate date of the castle's reconstruction from wood to stone.
context_section_description: The west façade of the castle has square towers flanking the central bay, with others at the south west and north west, all topped with octagonal, machicolated turrets. The north and south façades are relatively simple. The east façade has a central projection in the centre rising a storey above the parapet, to form a tower. The tower's south angle is splayed to accommodate the main staircase and only the corbels of its parapet survive. The screen closing off the east entrance has a three-bay cusped arcade on the ground floor and three ogee arches on the shafts above.
  The roof was originally covered with sheet lead and adorning the roof are stone warriors and other figures, similar to those of Raby, Alnwick and the gates of York. Originally there were four figures on each corner turret and bartizan; only five have survived. Between the central towers once stood a sculpture of a knight in combat with a serpent (of which only fragments survive), believed to pertain to the tale of the Lambton Worm. The parapet is also machicolated (except on the north façade) and continued between the central towers by a carved-foliage arch (originally with cusping which fell in 1882), instead of corbels. Another feature of the roof was shallow stone troughs on the battlements which fed scalding oil or water into the machiocaltions as a means of defence. In a small chamber in each turret or bastion, a brazier was kept burning to bring the liquids to a suitable temperature.
caption: "Hylton Turrets", a sketch by Robert Billings in 1846, facing south-west on the roof of Hylton Castle. The sketch shows the south-west tower, the south tower of the central bay on the east façade, and the decaying stone figures on the roof.
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