Astwell Castle

It is a Grade II listed building[1] and part of the parish of Helmdon, a village 1 mile (1.6 km) west.

On 24 April 1471, Thomas Lovett II acquired Astwell in exchange for his hereditary estates by a family arrangement with his mother's cousin, Dowse Billing and her husband William Brooke.

By 1874, the manor house had been largely dismantled, some of the "inferior offices" becoming a farmhouse, and a "broad embattled tower" remaining.

[5] News items in 2019 reported that the mansion "retains fine features with mullions, window seats and leaded lights, fireplaces and an oak staircase."

To the west, a large courtyard house with over forty rooms accumulated under later owners in the Lovett and Shirley families in the 16th and 17th centuries, of which only a fragment survives.

Early 18th century drawings show ranges added against both the west and south sides of the house which were built up to or over the moat.

These may be related to infilling the moat and setting out a garden with formal terraces on the south and east sides of the house.

The room on the first floor has shields of arms under the whitewash, and there is a blocked-up doorway at this level, which possibly opened into an external gallery.