Casterton Grange

A short history by Ken Humphris

Set back from the A683 on the outskirts of the village, Casterton Grange is not listed, and merits only a single line entry in the latest Pevsner. However, it was built by a renowned architect, was not long occupied by its original owner, fell into disrepair, and in recent years has been very well restored.

Casterton Grange was built for Rev. David Barclay Bevan, of Walthamstow in Essex, a vicar from a wealthy family who during a long life had eleven children by four wives, but it is the first marriage that appears significant in the story of Casterton Grange.

This was the marriage to Agnes Carus-Wilson, daughter of the founder of the Clergy Daughter’s School, which took place in 1837 in Casterton church, which had been built only a few years earlier by the bride’s father. The land on which the Grange was built was probably part of Carus-Wilson’s Casterton Hall estate, and the construction was finished in 1848.

Bevan had been vicar of Skerton, Lancaster since 1840 and it’s not clear where he lived during that period, but from 1843-1857, during which time the Grange was built, he was Rector of Burton Latimer in Northamptonshire. It is said that Bevan and his wife lived at Burrow Hall whilst in Westmorland during the time the house was actually being built. Of their six children only Emily was born in Casterton, presumably at the in-laws house, since this was eight years before the building of The Grange.

By the 1851 census the head of the house was Margaret Thwaites, and Bevan’s name never appears in any of the census returns or electoral roles for Casterton.

So having built a fine house in his wife’s home village, it seems that Casterton Grange was never Bevan’s main residence, and it may be that the family did not spend any appreciable period of time living there.

Agnes died in 1855 in Kettering but is buried in the family vault in Holy Trinity, Casterton, and there is a memorial plaque to her on the wall of the nave.

Casterton Grange’s architect was Ewan Christian, sometime president of the RIBA and architect to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and notable for the restoration of Carlisle cathedral and the extension of the National Gallery that created the National Portrait Gallery. His architectural style is not easily definable, but he was much influenced by Pugin. During a long career, from 1841 until the week of his death age eighty in 1895, Christian designed some 380 parsonages and forty other clerical residences, including the vicarage at Hutton Roof.

The house was designed around a top-lit central staircase hall with a four-storey tower to the right of a barge-boarded, gable-and-bay elevation. Decorative bargeboards are said to be a feature of Christian’s designs. There were three small dormers (to the east west and south), elegant tall chimneys and a substantial 10-sided conservatory. There was a west wing (containing kitchen, laundry and servants’ accommodation) and stables attached to the rear of the house. The whole fabric is of coursed rustic limestone, with ashlar quoins, window and door openings and mullions in similarly coloured sandstone. Although there was little in the way of formal gardens, the house sat in upwards of 200 acres. The entrance was through the gates at the side of what is now Grange Lodge, with a drive sweeping round to the front door in the base of the tower.

The garden front bears a considerable resemblance to that of The Grange in Ramsgate, which had been built only five years earlier by the eminent architect A. W. N. Pugin as his own residence.

Casterton Grange had many owners/occupiers after Barclay Bevan and has been empty at other times. In the late nineteenth/early twentieth century it became part of the Underley Estate. It was unoccupied at the time of the 1891 census, but subsequent residents included families by the name of Marriner, Tunstall, and Stackhouse but not many changes appear to have been made to the house during this period. One of the owners during the Edwardian period built Grange Lodge, probably around 1905-1910, at the exit of the drive on to the A683. In the early years of the twentieth century the original conservatory built by Barclay-Bevan was replaced by a rectangular one.

Following the death of Lady Cavendish-Bentinck in 1939, and the dispersal of much of the Underley estate, the house was sold to the Yorke family, who set about making good some of the dilapidations. Dry rot had taken hold of the top of the tower and the east and south dormer windows, which were all removed in around 1947. Following the removal of the pointed top of the tower in 1947, the new owner applied concrete crenellations to the top floor of the tower in 1950-52, which made it more than ever reminiscent of Pugin’s house, but it’s not clear whether this was the intention. Numerous internal improvements were made during the Yorke family’s time to make the house more suitable as a family home including the introduction of electricity to replace oil lamps, and the west wing was converted to a separate dwelling, Grange Cottage. Plans were drawn up to finally resolve the dry-rot problem by lowering the entire house by one storey, but fortunately these plans never came to pass. Peter Yorke and his mother lived for a time in Grange Lodge but it was later sold.

In 1957 Casterton Grange was bought jointly by a Polish jeweller from Blackpool called Kaye, and Frances Amelia Rollinson, but the latter sold her share to Kaye three years later. No significant external changes were made, but there were some minor internal improvements during this time.

The following thirty years saw mixed fortunes for the property. It was bought, but not occupied by a family from the south, after which it passed to an eccentric academic from Lancaster called Dr. Smoker. Significant further decay occurred during this period including the return of dry rot to the tower, which subsequently had its top storey removed. The stone removed from the tower was dumped in the garden nearby and reused to great effect by the present owner. The next owners were a syndicate from Lancaster and Morecambe who had plans to turn The Grange into a nursing home, and although planning permission was granted these plans came to nothing, except that the conservatory was demolished.

But better times lay ahead. In 1988 ownership passed to Mr Brian Cargin, who made essential repairs including dealing with the dry rot once and for all, extensive re-roofing, and the replacement of the south-facing dormer. The south-facing bargeboards were replaced circa 1944, but those facing east are believed to be original. Much excellent work was also done to the interior, including the installation of central heating, and the Stables were sold and converted into a separate dwelling. Grange Lodge passed to different owners, and it suited them to achieve privacy by giving up part of their garden closest to Casterton Grange, in exchange for Cargin making an entirely new entrance and driveway from the A683.

Although the structure was weathertight, an aerial photograph shows the exterior of the building and its surroundings looking rather tired and neglected. The true renaissance began more recently:

• A somewhat larger rectangular conservatory has been built over the site of the original, with both hipped and gabled glass and windows in perfect harmony and proportion with the others in the house
• The only change to the original footprint of the building is in a kitchen extension on the west side. The style, proportions and materials are beautifully in sympathy
• The tower has been re-instated almost exactly to the original design (but with modern structure beneath). The top of the gable pyramid is surmounted by a glass lantern, unlike the original but this is insignificant. Some of the stone for the re-build, and for the kitchen extension, came from the original tower, which had been thrown down into the garden. The weathervane on the very top seems once again to be faithful to the original in the form of a quatrefoil
• The east dormer window has been faithfully reinstated
• The west wing and stables have now been re-incorporated into the house, albeit with some different detailing such as door openings more suited to being a part of the main house

The external appearance of Casterton Grange is thus largely as Ewan Christian designed it in 1848, except for a few additions that are perfectly in keeping with the rest.

The aerial photo displayed at the head of this page was taken several decades ago. It was kindly supplied by Ken Humphris.