Bamburgh Castle
 Castles |
Bamburgh Castle is an imposing sight, especially when approached by sea from Holy Island . It straddles the top of a natural defensive site for a castle, on a massive rock outcrop 150 ft above the sandy beach, with almost vertical cliffs on three sides. Dominating a coastal stretch of Northumberland Bamburgh retains one of the most impressive silhouettes of all English castles.
Evidence indicates that this natural stronghold has been occupied as a fortress for centuries; Iron Age warriors, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, have all made use of the site before the Normans arrived. A stronghold of sorts was constructed here in AD547 by invading Angles, and was given by King Ethelfrith to his wife Bebba - Bebba's burgh became Bamburgh. The kings of Northumbria were crowned here, and at various times the Vikings sacked it. The present castle began as a Saxon stronghold, and was later developed by the Normans to become one of the most powerful castles of the North Country , playing a vital role in combating the ever present Scottish menace. During the Saxon period it acquired widespread fame as the resting-place for the head and right hand of St Oswald.
Of the original Norman bastion built on the site by Roger de Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland, in the late 11 th century, very little remains other than a portion of the mighty keep. In 1095, the Earl of Northumberland unwisely fell out with William II, a dispute that is extensively detailed in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle . Bamburgh was laid siege by the king, but resisted all efforts to overcome it. Finally, according to the Chronicle, William had another castle built to oppose it, which he called ‘Malveison' or Malvoison, translated as ‘Evil Neighbour'. Its garrison managed to capture the Earl as he was in the process of escaping toward Tynemouth , and it was his wife who eventually surrendered the castle when they threatened to put out her husband's eyes.
Bamburgh remained a royal castle for much of its life but its history is very sketchy. The one occasion when it appears to have ‘slipped over' to the enemy was in the mid 12 th century, when Henry of Huntingdon held the castle on behalf of his father, David I, King of Scotland between 1124-53. Regained by Henry II, 1154-89, it remained as crown property thereafter. The great keep was most probably completed by Henry along with the castle's three baileys, and further work was carried out by King John and Henry III. In the 14 th century the castle was massively fortified by the Plantagenets and turned into one of the strongest castles in the north.
During the lengthy Wars of the Roses, 1455-85, Bamburgh was held by the Lancastrians, but in 1464 it was captured by Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, the infamous ‘Kingmaker', who battered the castle into submission with constant barrages of canon fire. Its destruction by the Yorkist army meant that Bamburgh became the first major castle ever to fall to artillery. After this the fortress remained more or less in ruins for over two centuries; a report of the 17 th century, records that it had deteriorated to such a degree that only the huge rectangular keep of all the Norman castle remained standing.
In the 18 th century, Archdeacon Sharp, though only the trustee, invested substantial amounts of his own money into its restoration. However, a major restoration was undertaken throughout the Victorian era, followed in the early 1900's with more substantial reconstruction work by the newly ennobled Lord Armstrong. He was the Newcastle-born inventor, engineer and arms manufacturer, maker of the renowned Armstrong gun, and bears most responsibility for creating the awesome sight that towers above us today.
The period of restoration has resulted in a number of the castle's rooms being accessible to the public, including the remarkable King's Hall, presented in typically medieval character. The marvellous vaulting in the main hall is a major feature as are the distictive round-headed Norman arches of the keep. The latter's sturdy walls, 12ft thick in places, explains why it managed to outlast most other structures in the castle.
With its crenellated battlements, huge towers and mighty curtain wall, Bamburgh Castle , perched dramatically on its high coastal crag is one of the finest looking castles in England and much loved by film makers as a typical ‘medieval' fortress.