Prudhoe Castle
History
Prudhoe Castle is an 11th-century stronghold overlooking the River Tyne, in Northumberland, England. It is remembered as one of the strongest border castles and the only medieval fortification in Northumberland to never fall to the Scots despite repeated attacks.
The first castle at this location was a Norman motte-and-bailey castle built in the late 11th century, shortly after the Norman Conquest. It was built of timber to control a key crossing of the River Tyne and north-south routes through England.
The Umfraville family was granted land here by William the Conqueror and built the castle. Robert d'Umfraville was granted the barony of Prudhoe by King Henry I. He likely replaced the wooden castle with stone and constructed the curtain wall and gatehouse around 1150.
The gatehouse.
In 1173, King William the Lion of Scotland invaded northern England to claim the Earldom of Northumberland, during the Revolt of 1173-1174 between Henry II and his three sons. Odinel II d'Umfraville owned Prudhoe Castle at that time. Odinel was partly raised at the Scottish court but was loyal to King Henry II of England and refused to support William the Lion. The Scots attacked Prudhoe Castle but withdrew without a prolonged siege.
In 1174, William the Lion returned and besieged Prudhoe Castle for several days. The well-prepared garrison held firm, and Odinel escaped to gather support. The Scots damaged the orchards and fields around the castle, and they are said to have stripped the bark from the apple trees on Orchard Hill but failed to take it or force its surrender. William the Lion was later captured at the Battle of Alnwick. After the siege, Odinel improved the castle's defenses and added the stone keep and great hall.
In 1182, Odinel d'Umfraville died and was succeeded by his son Richard. Richard was one of the northern barons who stood against King John and had his estates forfeited to the crown. They remained in the crown's possession until 1217, the year after King John died, when Richard made peace with King Henry III.
The Umfraville family continued to make improvements to the castle, adding towers and a barbican in the 13th and 14th centuries. At times, the castle served as a prison for Scottish prisoners. When Gilbert d'Umfraville died in 1303, he owned two watermills that earned 5 pounds a year each, more than the 3 pounds a year from his 120 acres of farmland. A fortified pele yard, with walls and a gatehouse, was added south of the curtain wall in 1326, and the chapel of St Mary stood inside it. Henry VIII outlawed private chapels in the 1530s, and the chapel was reused as a cattle shed and small house before it fell into ruin.
The north-west drum tower.
In 1381, Gilbert III d'Umfraville died and with him, the male line of the Umfraville family. Prudhoe Castle passed to the Percy family by marriage, who added a new great hall.
Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, rose against King Henry IV, culminating in the Battle of Shrewsbury, where his son Henry "Hotspur" Percy was killed. Percy's estates, including Prudhoe Castle, were forfeited to the crown in 1405. Later that year, the castle was granted to John, the future Duke of Bedford, a son of King Henry IV, who held it until his death in 1435, after which it reverted to the crown.
Five years later, the castle was restored to the Percys after a long legal battle. In 1461, Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland, was killed at the Battle of Towton. In 1462, King Edward IV granted the castle to his younger brother George, Duke of Clarence. Shortly after, the king granted the castle to Lord Montague.
In 1470, the castle was restored to Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland. The Percy principal seat was Alnwick Castle, and Prudhoe was let out to tenants. However, in 1528, Henry Percy, 6th earl of Northumberland, resided at Prudhoe Castle, as did his brother, Thomas Percy. Thomas was involved in the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536 and was convicted of treason and executed, while Henry remained loyal to the crown and died in 1537.
The gatehouse and the Georgian manor house.
By the late 16th century, it had become more of a farming estate. Centuries of border war ended in 1603, when James VI of Scotland inherited the English throne, and the castle no longer needed a garrison. The Scots crossed the Tyne at Ovingham in the 1640s and could not be stopped at Prudhoe, which was the last time the castle saw military action. The Orde family, who were bailiffs of the estate, lived in the residential range until 1675, when the manor court that had met in the great hall was moved to Alnwick Castle, ending the castle's judicial role after 600 years. The castle buildings were then leased to local farmers and decayed, and the castle had fallen into ruin by the 1700s. Sometime between 1808 and 1818, Hugh Percy, 2nd Duke of Northumberland, restored parts of the curtain walls and the keep, and added a Georgian Gothic Revival manor house inside the castle. The manor house was rebuilt by 1816 by the architect David Stephenson, who was the teacher of John Dobson. The Northumberland yeomanry were based at the castle, and ammunition was kept there until 1814. Sir Walter Scott visited that year and found the outer bailey so blocked up by the buildings of a farm yard that he could form no idea of its original size, and artists such as Turner admired the ruins and their setting beside the river.
In 1966, the Ministry of Works took Prudhoe Castle into state guardianship, and English Heritage now looks after it, although it is still owned by the Percy family.
Castle Highlights
Prudhoe Castle is worth a visit, but it tends to attract fewer visitors than other castles. The grounds and outer ward are free to visit and open year-round. The inner ward and main portions of the castle, such as the keep, chapel, and gatehouse, are open only on limited days, so check the English Heritage website before you go.
The keep was probably built in the late 12th century, after the sieges of 1173 and 1174, when Odinel was probably rewarded well enough to pay for it. Its main hall was on the first floor, and the entrance was through a forebuilding on the east side. With the keep being mostly a ruin, the most impressive part of the medieval castle to see is the gatehouse. The gatehouse is the only entrance to the castle, and it was built by 1150 and originally stood two stories high. The north face of the gatehouse looks out over the inner bailey. Two 13th-century lancet windows above the gatehouse are part of the chapel. The chapel contains an oriel window from about 1300, the earliest known in England. In the 14th century, an additional floor was added to the gatehouse, and the chimney and rooftop battlements were added in the 15th century.
The outer ward, where excavations found the foundations of three great halls.
The East Tower is still intact but not open to the public. Excavations in the outer bailey in the 1970s found the foundations of three great halls, a kitchen, and a brewhouse, along with the bank and post holes of the first timber castle. The ruins of the castle mill, which has a date stone of 1752, stand beside the millpond, and the medieval bridge has a round arch on one side and a pointed arch on the other. The Georgian manor house is now used as a museum and the gift shop.
Prudhoe Castle can be thoroughly explored in two hours. Tynemouth Castle or Belsay Castle are close enough to visit on the same day. Not a castle, but Hadrian's Wall is also close by.
Prudhoe Castle is also haunted.
