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Exterior of The Keep, Tattershall Castle
Photograph: E. Smith (1966)
Source: RIBA British Architectural Library Photographs Collection

Like Oxbrugh, Tattershall’s keep is a celebration of brick. Tattershall, however, has had an eventful history. Built in the 1440s, within the bounds of a twelfth-century castle, it is now a ruin. Its builder, Ralph Cromwell, Lord Treasurer of England, was one of the mightiest men in the country, and one of the most hated. Perhaps this explains the building’s peculiar nature.

At first sight it appears defensive. Its immense walls are at least fifteen feet in width. Access into the keep is not easy: three doorways lead to separate floors. Galleries projecting out between the turrets, peppered with multiple murder-holes, are ready for use.

And yet, Tattershall was a building of great expense and comfort. Inside and out the work is of the highest quality. Particularly memorable are the vaulted ceilings, star-like networks with carved brick bosses. Each chamber possesses a fine chimney piece, plus many windows, hardly ideal for a defensive bolt-hole. By the middle of the fifteenth century, with the arrival of cannons, tall keeps became impractical. Tattershall, therefore, is best understood as the home of an insecure man, eager to display his wealth, built at a time when the English castle-house was in transition.