Listed Building Consent has been submitted to Durham County Council for conservation repairs to the fabric of the building, including repointing, stonework repairs and removal of vegetation, at The Castle, in Castle Eden.

The site consists of a Grade II* Listed Building, The Castle, dating from about 1765. The surrounding area is also significant, comprising of an extensive landscaped parkland and pleasure grounds laid out in a steep-sided dene that is a Grade II Registered Historic Park and Garden of Special Interest.

The proposals within this application seek to improve the condition and appearance of the Castle following poor repairs and decay.

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The main house is a three storey building in a classical style built with coursed ashlar limestone with fine joints, window openings have depressed pointed heads and there are hood moulds with moulded string course at floor levels and eaves course.

It is finished with a crenelated parapet in the Gothic style. The building is quite symmetrical on three elevations east, west and south.

The north elevation has been altered with the addition of a Victorian off-shot built in brickwork whilst the walls to the main house are in random rubble stonework.

The castle has suffered a series of unsympathetic repairs over the last few decades, resulting in large patches of cementitious mortar repairs, and significant cementitious mortar pointing.

This application seeks to remove this pointing and replace it with lime mortar. Some of the stonework has open joints, which are to be repointed with lime mortar.

Other areas have stonework in poor condition, spalling, delaminating and in some cases, detail is missing as a whole. Permission is sought to replace the most severe of these areas replacing the missing stone detailing.

Finally, the chimneys become dislodged through erosion of the mortar and require removal and rebuilding.

This application includes for rebuilding the top few courses of brick of the chimney stacks as required and chimney pots reset on mortar, including repointing where cementitious mortar is removed, or open joints are present.