The coastal area is situated to the east of the A1 road. It is sparsely populated and includes sandy beaches, sand dunes, rugged cliffs and isolated islands. It includes two National Nature Reserves. Fortresses and peel towers along the coast are evidence of past conflicts between the English and Scots in this border area. Coal fields are nearby and ’sea coal’ is washed up on the beaches.

The stretch around Bamburgh is notable for two reasons: the imposing Bamburgh Castle, overlooking the beach, seat of the former Kings of Northumbria, and at present owned by the Armstrong family and its association with the Victorian heroine, Grace Darling.

The extensive sandy beach to the east of Bamburgh was awarded the Blue Flag rural beach award in 2005. The Bamburgh Dunes, an area of sand dunes which are a Site of Special Scientific Interest, stand behind the award winning beach. Bamburgh is popular with holidaymakers and is within the Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Bamburgh Castle, then called Din Guardi, may have been the capital of the Brythonic kingdom of Bryneich between about AD 420 and 547. In 547 the castle was taken by the invading Angles led by Ida son of Eoppa and was renamed Bebbanburgh by one of his successors, Æthelfrith, after Æthelfrith’s wife Bebba, according to the Historia Brittonum. From then onwards the castle became the capital of the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia until it merged with its southern neighbour, Deira, in 634. After the two realms united as Northumbria the capital was moved to York.

Henry VI ruled all England (in name) from Bamburgh in 1464, during the Wars of the Roses. The castle was eventually reduced by artillery.
Thomas Malory considered Bamburgh to be Lancelot’s castle Joyous Gard. The Victorian poet Algernon Swinburne agreed and called it “The noblest hold in all the North.”

“They saw the help and strength of Joyous Gard,
The full deep glorious tower that stands over
Between the wild sea and the broad wild lands…”

Swinburne swam here, as did the novelist E. M. Forster who adopted the Forsters of Bamburgh as his ancestors.

The Geography
The most notable features of the region include The Whin Sill which is a tabular layer of igneous rock, or sill, in County Durham and Northumberland, in the northeast of England. It lies partly in the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and partly in Northumberland National Park.

Formed of dolerite (a basaltic rock) 295 million years ago, the Whin Sill is part of a sheet of rock stretching from Teesdale, home of various waterfalls, along a northerly line to Berwick, home of the Farne Islands. Bamburgh Castle, Dunstanburgh Castle, Lindisfarne Castle and stretches of Hadrian’s Wall all strategically take advantage of high, rocky cliff lines formed by the sill.

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Prudhoe Castle, Northumberland Click to View Virtual Tour	The Chapel, Prudhoe Castle Click to View Virtual Tour
The Courtyard, Prudhoe Castle Click to View Virtual Tour	The Keep, Prudhoe Castle Click to View Virtual Tour

History of Prudhoe Castle, Northumberland

Archaeological excavations have shown that the first castle on the site was a Norman motte and bailey, built sometime in the mid 11th century. Following the Norman Conquest, the Umfraville family took over control of the castle. Robert d’Umfraville was formally granted the barony of Prudhoe by Henry I but it is likely that the Umfravilles had already been granted Prudhoe in the closing years of the 11th century. The Umfravilles (probably Robert) initially replaced the wooden palisade with a massive rampart of clay and stones and subsequently constructed a stone curtain wall and gatehouse.

In 1173 William the Lion of Scotland invaded the North East to claim the earldom of Northumberland. The head of the Umfraville family, Odinel II, refused to support him and as a result the Scottish army tried to take Prudhoe Castle. The attempt failed as the Scots were not prepared to undertake a lengthy siege. The following year William attacked the castle again but found that Odinel had strengthened the garrison, and after a siege of just three days the Scottish army left. Following the siege, Odinel further improved the defences of the castle by adding a stone keep and a great hall.

Odinel died in 1182 and was succeeded by his son Richard. Richard became one of the barons who stood against King John, and as a result forfeited his estates to the crown. They remained forfeited until 1217, the year after King John’s death. Richard died in 1226 and was succeeded by his son, Gilbert, who was himself succeeded in 1245 by his son Gilbert. Through his mother, Gilbert II inherited the title of Earl of Angus, with vast estates in Scotland, but he continued to spend some of his time at Prudhoe. It is believed that he carried out further improvements to the castle. Gilbert took part in the fighting between Henry III of England and his barons, and in the Scottish expeditions of Edward I. He died in 1308 and was succeeded by his son, Robert D’Umfraville IV. In 1314, Robert was taken prisoner by the Scots at Bannockburn, but was soon released, though he was deprived of the earldom of Angus and of his Scottish estates. In 1316 King Edward granted Robert 700 marks to maintain a garrison of 40 men-at-arms and 80 light horsemen at Prudhoe.

In 1381 the last of the line, Gilbert III, died without issue and his widow married Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland. On her death in 1398, the castle passed to the Percy family.

The Percies added a new great hall to the castle shortly after they took possession of it. Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland fought against Henry IV and took part in the Battle of Shrewsbury, for which act he was attainted and his estates, including Prudhoe, were forfeited to the Crown in 1405. That same year it was granted to the future Duke of Bedford, (a son of Henry IV) and stayed in his hands until his death in 1435, whereupon it reverted to the Crown.

The Percies regained ownership of the Prudhoe estates in 1440, after a prolonged legal battle. However, Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland fought on the Lancastrian side in the Wars of the Roses and was killed at the Battle of Towton in 1461. In 1462 Edward IV granted Prudhoe to his younger brother George, Duke of Clarence. The latter only possessed the castle briefly before the king granted it to Lord Montague.

The castle was restored to the fourth Earl in 1470. The principal seat of the Percys was Alnwick Castle and Prudhoe was for the most part let out to tenants. In 1528 however Henry Percy 6th Earl was resident at the castle as later was his brother Sir Thomas Percy. Both the Earl and Sir Thomas were heavily involved in the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536 and both were convicted of treason and executed. Following forfeiture of the estates the castle was reported in August 1537 to have habitable houses and towers within its walls, although they were said to be somewhat decayed and in need of repairs estimated at £20.

The castle was once again restored to Thomas Percy, the 7th Earl in about 1557. He was convicted of taking part in the Rising of the North in 1569. He escaped, but was recaptured and was executed in 1572.
The castle was thereafter let out to many and various tenants and was not used as a residence after the 1660s. In 1776 it was reported to be ruinous.

Between 1808 and 1817, Hugh Percy, 2nd Duke of Northumberland carried out substantial repairs to the ancient fabric and replaced the old dwellings within the walls with a georgian mansion adjoining the keep.
In 1966 the castle was given over to the Crown and is now in the custody of English Heritage and is open to the public.

The castle stands on a ridge about 150 feet (46 m) on the south bank of the River Tyne. It is partly enclosed by a deep moat. The ground to the north falls away steeply to the river. The castle entrance is on the south side and is flanked by a mill pond on the left and a ruined water mill on the right. The castle is entered by a barbican dating from the first half of the 14th century. The gatehouse, dating from the early 12th century, leads into the outer ward, which contains the remains of several buildings. At the north side, against the curtain wall, are the remains of the Great Hall, measuring 60ft by 46ft (18m by 14m), built by the Percies when they took over the castle. At the end of the 15th century a new hall was built to the west to replace the existing one.

On the west side of the outer ward is the manor house, built in the early 19th century, and containing a visitor’s shop and exhibition rooms. At the south end of the manor house is a gateway leading into the inner ward. The main feature of the inner ward is the keep, dating from the 12th century. The keep has walls 10 feet (3.0 m) thick and its internal dimensions are 20ft by 24ft (7.3m by 6.1m). It originally consisted of two storeys beneath a double-pitched roof.

Read more: Prudhoe Castle (English Heritage), official website
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Belsay Castle Click to View Virtual Tour

Belsay Castle is a 14th century medieval castle situated at Belsay, Northumberland, England. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Grade I listed building.
The main structure, a substantial three storey rectangular pele tower with rounded turrets and battlements was constructed about 1370, and was the home of the Middleton family . In 1614 Thomas Middleton built a new manor house attached to the tower. A west wing was added in 1711 but was later largely demolished in 1872 by Sir Arthur Middleton when the remainder of the house was considerably altered.

The castle was abandoned as a residence by the family in the early 19th century when Sir Charles Monck built Belsay Hall close by. It is administered by English Heritage and is open the public. The interiors were largely removed and it was then used as a ready-made folly, as was fashionable among the aristocracy at the time, serving as setting for garden parties and other entertainments.

Read more on English Heritage: Belsay Castle, official website
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Aydon Castle Click to View Virtual Tour

Interior, Aydon Castle Click to View Virtual Tour

Aydon Castle is a fortified manor house at Aydon near to the town of Corbridge, Northumberland, England. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Grade I listed building.

The earliest recorded history of the locale of Aydon Castle relates to the period of Roman occupation and the associated development of the Stanegate and Hadrian’s Wall, both of which lie not far from Aydon Castle.

Documentary evidence shows that a timber hall first existed on this site. The manor house was built by Robert de Reymes, a wealthy Suffolk merchant, starting in 1296 AD, adjacent to the steep valley of the Cor Burn. At this time the house consisted of a two-storeyed home with a solar, dining hall and kitchen on the upper floor. In 1305 he obtained a licence to crenellate his property and added battlements and curtain walls. It was captured by the Scots in 1315 and again in 1346.

In the middle of the 16th century it was renovated and in the middle of 17th century it was converted into a farm. The building remained in use as a farm until 1966 but has since been restored to its medieval appearance. It is now managed by English Heritage.

Above information sourced from Wikipedia. Read the whole article for Aydon Castle

Dunstanburgh Castle Click to View Virtual Tour

Rocky Shoreline, Dunstanburgh Castle Click to View Virtual Tour

Dunstanburgh Castle lies on a spectacular headland on the coast of Northumberland in northern England, between the villages of Craster and Embleton.
The castle is the largest in Northumberland and the site shows traces of much earlier occupation before the erection of the castle was started in 1313 by the Earl of Lancaster.

Recent evidence suggests that the site of the castle was occupied in prehistoric times: however, the principal remains date from the 14th century. In 1313, Earl Thomas of Lancaster, cousin of Edward II of England began construction of a massive fortress. By the time of his execution in 1322, the castle was substantially complete. John of Gaunt improved the castle in the late 14th century as the Duke of Lancaster.

The castle did not play a significant part in the border warfare against Scotland. In the Wars of the Roses the castle was held for the Lancastrians in 1462 and 1464. The damage done was not made good and the castle fell steadily into decay. A report in 1538 mentioned it as being a “very reuynus howsse and of smalle strength” and another source in 1550 described it as in “wonderfull great decaye”. It continued to deteriorate and was robbed of stone for the building of other places in the area. The last private owner Sir Arthur Sutherland donated the castle to the Ministry of Works in 1929. The castle is now owned by the National Trust and in the care of English Heritage. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Grade I listed building. It lies within the Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Turner painted Dunstanburgh many times, usually rising at dawn to do so. One of his oil paintings of the subject is in the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. Another is in the National Gallery of Victoria.

The castle occupies a prominent headland about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of Craster. On the south side there is a gentle slope towards the castle. The northerly approach is much steeper and the northern perimeter juts into Embleton Bay forming a 150-foot (46 m) cliff. The headland itself is part of the Great Whin Sill, a geological formation stretching across Northumberland.

There are signs of medieval rig-and-furrow on the slopes near to the castle – possible evidence of subsistence farming for the castle inhabitants.

The present castle encloses the entire 11 acres (4.5 ha) headland. The southern approach is protected by a long enceinte wall punctuated by two rectangular towers (the Constable and Egyncleugh towers), two turrets and a large twin-towered gatehouse at the western corner. From the gatehouse, the wall carries northward along the hilltop to a rectangular turreted watch tower, known as the Lilburn Tower.

The twin-towered gatehouse served as the principal residential block of the castle. Under John of Gaunt, the gateway was blocked, and the entrance to the castle carried around to the left via a mantlet wall and tower, rendering the gatehouse a more secure traditional keep. The area at the rear of the twin-towered gatehouse was enclosed in a courtyard by walls and a tower to form an inner ward, with access on the east side.

Composed of two tall D-shaped towers, the gatehouse-keep is a masterpiece of 14th century castle design. Each tower was of four stories, and was originally capped by four turrets about 80 feet (24 m) above ground level. The long gate passage was protected by gates at each end and two soldiers’ barracks line the passage at ground level. On the first floor the gatehouse was divided into three rooms, with the central one controlling the portcullis mechanism. On the second floor above ground level there was a large room running across the entire width of the gatehouse, comprising a hall and chambers. The arrangements of the other stories and above have not survived.

The castle has a very high standard of masonry, comfort and design, and was likely intended to house Earl Thomas and his entire retinue. Well-lit residential chambers furnished with fireplaces may be found in the Lilburn and Constable towers as well as in the gatehouse. The large, apparently unused land in the middle of the castle may have served as a billeting area for troops.

Recent evidence suggests that there may have been an additional defensive enceinte of the castle, enclosing the low flat land around the foot of the main fort. Evidence has been found of a wall originating on the north near the Lilburn tower and extending around, anticlockwise, to the coastline on the east, where there may have been a medieval port

Dunstanburgh Castle
Craster, Alnwick, Northumberland NE66 3TT
Telephone: 01665 576231

Read more: Dunstanburgh Castle, National Trust official website
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Warkworth Castle, Northumberland Click to View Virtual Tour

Warkworth Castle is a ruined, although reasonably well preserved castle, situated in Warkworth, Northumberland, England on a defensive mound in a loop of the River Coquet. It is a Grade I listed building.

Warkworth Castle was originally constructed as a wooden fortress, some time after the Norman Conquest. It was later ceded to the Percy family, who held it, and resided there on and off (dependent on the state of their often stormy relationship with the royalty of the time) until the 16th century. During this period the castle was rebuilt with sandstone curtain walls and greatly reinforced. The imposing keep, overlooking the village of Warkworth was added during the 15th century. It was refurbished, with much refaced stonework, by the Dukes of Northumberland in the late 19th century.

The castle formed the backdrop for several scenes in Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 2.

Although the village of Warkworth, Northumberland dates back at least to the 8th century, the first castle was not built until the mid-twelfth century. It was of motte and bailey construction. Northumberland was re-taken for the English by Henry II and the castle was given to Roger FitzRichard whose family continued to hold it until the early fourteenth century. During this period, the original wooden structure was replaced with a stone-built castle, which, by the mid-thirteenth century, was described by Matthew Paris as “a noble castle”.

The descendants of FitzRichard encountered financial problems, including the cost of the upkeep of the castle, and ownership reverted to the Crown in 1332. It was next granted to Henry de Percy, Lord of Alnwick. Under the Percys, additional building work took place, including the fourteenth century keep. However, in the rebellion of 1403, the castle fell to the King’s cannon, suffering damage to the curtain wall. The castle was forfeited to the Crown, in whose ownership it remained until Henry V restored it to the Percy family. It was again forfeited to the King, during the Wars of the Roses and passed briefly into the hands of John Neville (brother of Warwick the Kingmaker) but again returned to the Percys in 1470.

The Percys sided against Elizabeth I in the so called Rising of the North an uprising of the northern earls, which began in 1569. Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland was executed in 1572 and the castle was pillaged by royal servants. The castle fell into long-term disrepair, being further damaged by the Parliamentary forces that were garrisoned there in 1648 and then used as a source of building materials for other houses in the later 17th century.
The castle remained a ruin until the mid-nineteenth century, when the third Duke of Northumberland undertook some preservation work and the fourth Duke excavated some of the older parts of the castle and re-roofed other areas.
In 1922 the 8th Duke of Northumberland handed the castle over to the Office of Works which had been made accountable for the guardianship of ancient monuments. The Office of Works was in due course supplanted by English Heritage who now own the castle.

Above information sourced from Wikipedia. Read the whole article HERE

Read Warkworth page on the English Heritage official website