The Stately Homes of EnglandJewitt, Llewellynn Frederick William
History
The Stately Homes of England
Jewitt, Llewellynn Frederick William
Historic buildings -- England
V. FIRST DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND, from 1750 to 1786: general reparation,
after a long period of neglect and ruin, including a material
transformation of the greater part of the castle. The Keep was almost
entirely demolished, and rebuilt after the manner that was called (and,
in one sense of that term, really was) “Gothic” in the eighteenth
century in England; and the towers and curtain of the circumvallation
suffered in like manner.
VI. FOURTH DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND, from 1854 to 1865: complete
restoration of the entire castle. The important works erected by Duke
Algernon along the lines of the circumvallation, and to the south and
the south-west of these lines, have already been described; in addition
to these, the duke rebuilt the range of apartments extending from the
Keep southwards to the Edwardian Gateway from the first to the second
baly; and he built the noble Prudhoe Tower, with the chapel adjoining
it, the Ante-Room, the Guard Chamber, the present Dining-Hall, and the
completion of the Keep.
The governing idea of this restoration was _really to restore_, in
all their leading and most characteristic features, the mediæval
arrangements and aspect of Alnwick Castle so far as its exterior was
concerned; while, at the same time, the whole of the interior of the
restored edifice was to be planned, fitted, and adorned, in the most
sumptuous style, after the manner of a cinquecento Roman palace, and
with all the luxurious splendour and the various skilful contrivances
required and suggested by the taste and the usages of the present
day. The only important deviation from the former part of the duke’s
plan, was the removal of the Edwardian Towers, and the adjoining
curtain-wall between the Abbot’s Tower and the Postern Tower, in order
to open the view from the windows of the new Prudhoe Tower towards the
north: but the Italian portion of the scheme was accomplished in its
integrity. The whole of the architectural restoration and rebuilding
was carried out with the most perfect success, under the direction
of Mr. Salvin, an architect eminently distinguished for his practical
knowledge of the Early Gothic of England in its military aspect, as
also for both the conscientious fidelity of his restorations and the
judicious consistency of his original designs. We can easily understand
with what satisfaction Mr. Salvin must have removed the Strawberry
Hill pseudo-Gothic of the first duke, as well as the far higher
gratification which must have attended the progressive realisation of
his own truly admirable compositions.
[Illustration: _Alnwick Abbey._]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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