Lancaster’s historic castle has been given a facelift and is now home to creatives, craftspeople and quality coffee
Lancaster Castle is part of the Duchy of Lancaster estate and the Queen’s visit in 2015 came on the 750th anniversary of the year Henry III handed over his first ‘spoils of war’ to his son, Edmund Crouchback.
The castle housed the country’s oldest working prison until it closed in 2011 and now ‘inmates’ of a more artistic, hospitable and academic kind of work there.
Sculptor Alan Ward was the first artist to move in and embroiderer, Sara Dennis followed. The extensively restored and remodelled courtyard where they now work is also home to Atkinson’s cafe and a branch of Lancaster University.
Lancaster Castle’s historic atmosphere is the perfect environment for Alan, a former castle guide and calligraphy teacher to the prisoners. His studio is in a space previously used by maintenance staff.
‘The castle is totally inspiring. Every day I love to walk through the John O’Gaunt gateway to come to work,’ he said.
The move to a studio with both indoor and outdoor space came when Alan had just been commissioned to produce a life-sized statue of Fleetwood’s founding father, Sir Peter Hesketh Fleetwood which stands in the town’s Euston Gardens.
Alan’s studio is packed with stone heads of historic characters, plaques, maquettes and even tiny carvings he creates just for fun.
Among his latest commissions are two lions’ heads for Chorley’s Astley Hall, and the heads of Lancaster’s first Duke, John of Gaunt, destined for the castle gateway, and Thomas Covell, the judge who sentenced the Lancashire witches, which will be displayed at the nearby Judges’ Lodgings museum.
Lancaster Castle is already adorned with his work: sculpted Lancashire witches’ heads, created when Alan’s studio was in the Well Tower, and the sculpted heads of prison reformer, Elizabeth Fry and Quaker founder, George Fox who was imprisoned there are on show in the courtyard.
Recently, Alan collaborated in the carving of a traditional banner designed by textile artist James Fox for the British Textile Biennial at Helmshore Mill, where his other piece, The Unkindest Cut, is displayed, carved in memory of Mary Hindle who was a Lancaster Castle inmate before being transported to Australia for incitement to riot during the 1826 machine breakers riots.
In pre-Covid days, Alan ran popular sculpture and calligraphy classes and visitors could watch him work but currently both are on hold. Alan has acknowledged these strange times by carving a modern version of a plague stone complete with credit card and hand sanitiser, and a plaque saying ‘All Shall Be Well’.
Embroiderer Sara Dennis has her studio in the former hospital wing; very appropriate for the ex-army nurse who has been used to sewing people up in an operating theatre.
A Sedbergh farmer’s daughter, Sara learned her needlework skills from her grandmother and can occasionally be seen putting them to good use on BBC1’s The Repair Shop. Items she has helped repair on the programme range from a tiara and airman’s gloves to a ceremonial horse blanket.
‘Everything I’ve been asked to repair has been different, some items more sentimental than others. They may not necessarily be worth much in monetary terms but mean so much to people and that’s the challenge,’ she said.
Much of Sara’s time is spent on conservation work, the oldest item being a 1782 sampler. Lancaster Priory’s sewing group meet in her studio weekly to repair ecclesiastical garments and she also runs embroidery groups at the castle and in Kendal.
The Lancaster University graduate settled in the city after living all over the world with her soldier husband. She also completed an apprenticeship at the Royal School of Needlework (RSN) at Hampton Court Palace where she now teaches.
She’s currently working on an exhibition about the Lancashire Witches for Gawthorpe Hall and creating a triptych for an exhibition of the embroiderers’ art at London’s Bankside Gallery, both due to take place later this year. She’s also planning an independent embroidery summer school and, Covid permitting, an RSN course in America and a textile tour of India.
But she’ll always return to her studio which she believes s is the nicest in the country. ‘For me, it’s a beautiful place to come to work.’
Opposite Sara’s studio in the former prison kitchen is now the independent family run cafe carrying the J. Atkinson & Co name which has been synonymous with coffee roasting in Lancaster since 1837.
The café sits at the head of the remodelled piazza and is the fourth venue around the city for Atkinsons owner Ian Steele.
‘The castle is such a great asset to Lancaster and as we choose the most iconic buildings for our cafes, what could be better than a thousand year old castle?’ he said.
Ian is also one of Lancaster University’s entrepreneurs in residence and the university also has a seminar room within the castle, offering history and conservation students the opportunity to learn in a location at the heart of their studies.
A brief timeline
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In about 70AD the Romans built a fort on a hill overlooking a crossing of the Lune
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Sometime in the late 11th century a timber castle is founded on the site of the fort, probably by the Norman lord, Roger de Poitou
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In 1196 the castle is first used as a prison and in the century that follows the castle is rebuilt in stone. The Keep is built, which is the oldest remaining part of the castle
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Additions, repairs and alterations are made over years to strengthen the castle
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In the 1300s the castle was damaged by invading Scots
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The castle has been owned by the Crown since the 1400s
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The Pendle Witch Trial was held at the castle in 1612
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The castle was captured by Parliamentarian forces early in the Civil War although orders to “throw down” the castle walls were never carried out
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Major renovation work was carried out in the late 1700s to improve the prison facilities and the Shire Hall and Crown Court are added
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Hundreds were executed at “Hanging Corner” - the last was murderer Thomas Rawcliffe in 1910
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The prison closed in 1916, re-opened in 1955 and closed for good in March 2011
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To find out more about the castle, go to lancastercastle.com, or take a guided tour
