page_title: Hylton Castle
section_title: 19th century
hierarchical_section_title: Hylton Castle / History / 19th century
caption_attribution_description: English: Hylton Castle, c. 1800, Unknown
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: After a long period of remaining empty, the castle slowly began to decay, until in 1812, when Simon Temple, a local businessman, leased the castle from the Strathmores and made it habitable. He re-roofed the chapel (allowing it to be used for public worship again), added battlements to the wings and cultivated the gardens. However, his failed business ventures prevented him from completing his work, and in 1819 the castle was lived in by a Mr. Thomas Wade.
  By 1834, the castle was unoccupied again. In 1840, an advert was placed in the Newcastle Courant by Revd. John Wood for "Hylton Castle Boarding School" and the 1841 census shows Wood, his family, pupils and staff as living on the estate. Joseph Swan was one of the pupils there around this time. The school does not seem to have existed for long as Howitt commented in 1842, that it was "a scene of great desolation ... the windows for the most part, all along the front, are boarded up ... the whole of this large old house is now empty ... and in the most desolate state". However, he does go on to say the kitchen was occupied a poor family. By 1844, the chapel was used as a carpenter's workshop, and according to the Durham Chronicle in January 1856, the castle set on fire while in the occupation of a farmer, Mr. Maclaren.
  In 1862, the castle was put up for sale by the Strathmores and purchased by William Briggs, a local timber merchant and ship builder. Briggs set about to change the appearance of the castle to what he believed to be more "authentic[ally] medieval". He demolished the north and south wings, gutted the interior and added one, two and three-light cusp-headed windows. He also replaced the Gothic porch with a more "severe" Gothic doorway (three-bayed with cinquefoil arches) and an overhead balcony. To carry out these changes to the west front, he moved the stone-carved Hylton banner from above the west entrance to the front, left-flanking tower. The interior walls of the four-vaulted ground floor rooms were demolished, the whole floor was raised three-and-a-half feet and two reception rooms were formed. At the east end of the former central passage, dog-leg stairs were constructed leading to the first floor, requiring removal of the oratory and rendering the main staircase inaccessible from the ground floor. The side walls of the great hall were removed to create a large salon and a large bay window was added to the south façade, where the entrance to the south wing would have been. The rooms above were kept untouched, except that a new entrance to the family/chaplain's room had to be formed via the main staircase.
  Alongside the medieval masonry, Briggs' alterations can still be seen today (albeit in ruins). Briggs' son, Colonel Charles James Briggs (father of Sir Charles James Briggs) inherited the castle in 1871 and built the nearby St Margaret's church (now demolished).
caption: Hylton Castle and St Catherine's Chapel (on the left) – unknown artist, c. 1800
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