The design with four castellated turrets and an enclosed courtyard was styled after Millbank and Pentonville prisons in England.
The open battlement resembles those found at Coxwold; this pierced battlement is an unusual feature for a country church in northern England.
Henry initially sought to recover territory lost to Castile by assisting the revolt of Philip, brother of Alfonso X of Castile, in 1270, but eventually declined, preferring to establish an alliance with Castile through the marriage of his son Theobald to Violant of Castile, daughter of Alfonso X. This failed with the death of the young Theobald after he fell from a battlement at the castle of Estella in 1273.
The Eastern Promenade rings the neighborhood and offers panoramic views of these features, as well as two lighthouses, Mason Station power plant, and the stone battlement of Fort Gorges.
The chancel was embattled soon after 1624, when Thomas Farmer, the master of Witton Grammar School, left money for the purpose in his will.