Castles of England/Northumberland
Name |
Type |
Date |
Condition |
Image | Ownership / Access |
Notes (Key) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alnham Vicars Pele | Pele tower | 14th century | Restored | Private | ||
Alnwick Castle | Keep and bailey | 12–14th century | Restored | Duke of Northumberland |
Remodelled by Robert Adam and Anthony Salvin. | |
Aydon Castle | Fortified manor house | 14th century | Intact | Converted to farmhouse 17th century. | ||
Bamburgh Castle | Keep and bailey | 12–14th century | Restored | Lord Armstrong |
Ruinous by 1704, extensively restored 1894–1904. | |
Barmoor Castle | Tower house | 14–19th century | Rebuilt | Private | 19th century mansion incorporating remains of 14th century building. | |
Beaufront Castle | Neo-romantic castle | 1836–1841 | Intact | Private residence | 19th century mansion on site of 15th century tower house. | |
Bellister Castle | Castle | 13–14th century | Fragmentary remains | Private | Ruins adjoining 17th century house. | |
Belsay Castle | Tower house | 1439–60 | Intact | Later ruined building attached. | ||
Berwick Castle | Castle | 12–13th century | Fragmentary remains | |||
Bitchfield Castle | Pele tower | 14th century | Restored | Private | Incorporated in later mansion. | |
Blenkinsop Castle | Tower house | 14th century | Ruins | Private | Incorporated in 19th century house. | |
Bothal Castle | Castle | 14th century | Rebuilt | Private | Extensively restored 19th century. | |
Bywell Castle | Castle | 15th century | Fragments | Private | Gatehouse survives. | |
Callaly Castle | Pele tower | 14–15th century | Intact | Private apartments | Incorporated in later country house. | |
Cartington Castle | Pele tower and extensions | 14–15th century | Fragmentary remains | Private | ||
Chillingham Castle | Quadrangular castle | 1344 | Intact | Altered 17–19th centuries, restored after 1982. | ||
Chipchase Castle | Tower house | 14th century | Intact | Incorporated in Jacobean house, altered 18–19th centuries. | ||
Cocklaw Tower | Tower house | 14–15th century | Shell | Private, farm | Near Wall. | |
Cocklepark Tower | Tower house | c.1517 | Substantially intact | Newcastle University | ||
Corbridge Vicar's Pele | Pele tower | 1318 | Intact | Re-roofed 1910. | ||
Coupland Castle | Tower house | 16–17th century | Restored | Private residence | Later additions. | |
Craster Tower | Pele tower | 14–15th century | Intact | Holiday accommodation | Incorporated in later building. | |
Crawley Tower | Pele tower | 14th century | Ruins | Private | A cottage was built within the walls in the 18th century. | |
Cresswell Castle | Pele tower | 15th century | Ruin | 18th century parapet. | ||
Dilston Castle | Tower house | 15th century | Ruins | Altered 16–17th century, later buildings demolished. | ||
Dunstanburgh Castle | Keep and bailey | 14th century | Fragmentary ruins | Spectacular coastal setting. | ||
Edlingham Castle | Keep and bailey | 14th century | Fragmentary ruins | |||
Elsdon Castle | Motte and bailey | 11th century | Earthworks | Private | Well-preserved earthworks. | |
Elsdon Tower | Pele tower | 16th century | Intact | Private | Altered, rectory until 1960, restored 1990s. | |
Embleton Tower | Pele tower | 14th century | Intact | Private | 19th century vicarage attached. | |
Etal Castle | Castle | 14th century | Fragmentary ruins | |||
Featherstone Castle | Castle | 14th century | Intact | Private | 14th century tower, three further towers added 18–19th century. | |
Ford Castle | Quadrangular castle | 14th century | Substantially intact | Private | Converted into mansion 17th century. | |
Haggerston Castle | Neo-romantic castle | c.1893 | Fragment | Caravan site | Surviving tower of c.1893, on site of 14th century castle, in what is now a caravan park. | |
Halton Castle | Tower house | 13–14th century | Intact | Private residence | Attached to later house. | |
Harbottle Castle | Keep and bailey | 12–14th century | Fragmentary ruins | Northumberland National Park |
Captured by Robert Bruce in 1318. | |
Haughton Castle | Tower house | 13–14th centuries | Restored | Private | Altered 18–19th centuries. | |
Hexham Moot Hall and Old Gaol | Fortified towers | 14–15th century | Intact | Probably once connected by bailey wall, AD1415 list of castles has 'Turris de Hexham'. | ||
Horsley Tower | Pele tower | 16th century | Intact | Private residence | ||
Langley Castle | Tower house | c.1350 | Restored | Hotel | Restored 1890s. | |
Lemmington Hall | Tower house | 15th century | Restored | Wedding venue | Incorporated in later house. | |
Lindisfarne Castle | Artillery fort | 16th century | Restored | Remodelled by Edwin Lutyens 1901. | ||
Mitford Castle | Keep and bailey | 11–13th century | Fragmentary ruins | |||
Morpeth Castle | Castle | 1342–9 | Fragments | Landmark Trust | Only gatehouse and a section of wall remain. | |
Norham Castle | Keep and bailey | 12th century | Ruins | Keep remodelled 1422–5, partly rebuilt 1513–15. | ||
Preston Tower | Pele tower | c.1400 | Fragment | South wall remains, with two of the original four turrets. | ||
Prior Castell's Tower | Tower house | 15–16th century | Substantially intact | |||
Prudhoe Castle | Castle | 12–14th century | Ruins | |||
Shilbottle Tower | Pele tower | 15th century | Restored | Private | Incorporated into a vicarage. | |
Shortflatt Tower | Pele tower | 14–15th century | Restored | Wedding venue | Incorporated in later house. | |
Thirlwall Castle | Tower house | 14th century | Fragmentary ruins | Northumberland National Park |
Built with stone from Hadrian's Wall. | |
Twizell Castle | Tower house | 15–18th century | Fragmentary ruins | Medieval ruins incorporated in 18th century folly. | ||
Warkworth Castle | Keep and bailey | 12–14th century | Ruins | Although looked after by English Heritage, partly owned by the Duke of Northumberland. | ||
Whittingham Tower | Pele tower | 13–14th century | Restored | Private | Converted for use as almshouses in 1845. | |
Whitton Tower | Pele tower | c.1386 | Intact | Holiday accommodation | Near Rothbury, well-preserved. | |
Willimoteswick Castle | Fortified manor house | 16th century | Ruins | Private, farm | Incorporates remains of earlier building, largely rebuilt 1900. |
Twizell Castle stands on a bend of the River Till at Tillmouth Park, Northumberland. Below it, the medieval Twizell bridge spans the river. The gardens of the castle contain the earthwork remains of the once lost medieval village of Twizell, whilst the massive ruin presents the remains of an 18th century castle which was never completed.
A medieval tower house which once stood on the site was, in 1415, held by Sir John Heron. This was destroyed by the Scots in 1496, and the estate was sold by the Herons circa 1520 to a member of the Selby family. A survey in 1561 reported only the remnants of a tower house and a barmkin. Of the medieval structure, blocked windows, a chamfered doorway and the original north-east angle quoins are all that remains visible now.
In 1685 Sir Francis Blake purchased the estate from the widow Selby for £1,944, plus an annuity of £100, and the Blake family lived on the estate until 1738 when they moved to nearby Tillmouth Hall. From about 1770, he worked on the recreation of the castle as a Gothic Revival mansion, designed by architect James Nesbit of Kelso to be five levels tall. Despite some forty years of work, the project was never completed. When in 1882, the Blake's built a new mansion at Tillmouth Park much of the incomplete Twizell Castle was demolished and the stone used in the new construction. The house is now a two-story folly. Rectangular in plan, with circular towers on the angles and two wings on the north side, the basement rooms in the main block are stone and brick-vaulted as a precaution against fire.