Description

WEST TANFIELD CHURCH STREET
SE 2678-2778
(west end)
10/51 The Marmion Tower
22.8.66

GV I

Gatehouse/castle. C14, C16. Ashlar. 3 storeys, 1 bay. Square in plan.
East front: large chamfered 4-centred archway with hoodmould to right. To
its left a small chamfered rectangular opening. First floor: a central
oriel canted window with 2-light cusped openings with Perpendicular tracery
to each face, hipped roof above. Second floor: a central moulded mullion
and transom window with hoodmould. Moulded eaves band. Embattled parapet.
South front: first floor has a small square opening to left, to its right a
pointed-arched cusped 1-light window. Second floor: to left a 2-light
cusped Y-tracery pointed-arched window with hoodmould. To right a corbelled
garderobe. Eaves band has 2 rain spouts. West front: similar arch as to
east side. First floor has a moulded mullion and transom window with
hoodmould. Second floor: central 2-light cusped Y-tracery pointed-arched
window with hoodmould and transom. Clasping north-west corner, a 4-stage
stair tower with small chamfered 1-light rectangular openings. It rises
above the embattled parapet with its own eaves band and embattled parapet.
North front, blind except for chamfered single-light window to second floor.
Eaves band has rainwater spouts. Octagonal flue stack rises over the
parapets. Interior: ground floor has tunnel vaulted passage between the
archways and moulded doorways from this into Porters Lodge which is tunnel
vaulted and to the stone spiral stair. First floor was the great hall with
large moulded 4-centred arched fireplace. Second floor smaller similar
fireplaces. History: possibly a gatehouse castle in its own right with
enclosure to rear. John Marmion received licence to crenellate his house in
1314. After his death the castle went to his niece the wife of Sir Henry
FitzHugh Kt, then it went to the Parr family. William Parr, brother of the
6th wife of Henry VIII, owned the manor until his death in 1570. It then
went to the Crown and was granted to Lord Burghley. Through the Cecil
family it was owned by the Earls of Ailesbury in the C18 until 1886 when it
was bought by the Arton family. VCH, Vol I, p 384-389.

Listing NGR: SE2677678719

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Marmion Tower at Wikipedia
• Marmion Tower official website
• Wikidata Q6772142

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)