Elsdon Castle
Elsdon Castle , also known as Mote Hill , is an abandoned castle in the village of Elsdon , about 16 km southwest of Rothbury in the English county of Northumberland . It is considered a Scheduled Monument .
Eldsdon Castle is the best preserved medieval motte in Northumberland. Not long after the Norman conquest of England, Robert de Umfraville had it built on the natural outcrop of a hill. Today there are still impressive earthworks that are freely accessible to the public. The complex consists of a high mound in the south and a kidney-shaped courtyard in the north, bordered by earthen walls. It is believed that the two parts used to be connected by a wooden bridge. An explained reconstruction of the castle is shown on a plaque on the east side.
Elsdon Castle is believed to have been abandoned after it was replaced by nearby Harbottle Castle .
Legends have grown up around the castle. According to one of these legends, a Danish giant once lived on the hill and terrorized the neighborhood. This leads one to mistake this story for a memory of Siward the Dane , Earl of Northumberland , during the reign of King Edward the Confessor .
Elsdon Tower , a peel tower from the turn of the 14th to 15th centuries, which is believed to have also been built by the Umfravilles , is nearby.
Individual evidence
- ^ Constance Fraser, Kenneth Emsley: Northumbria . Phllimore & Co., Chichester 1989. ISBN 0-85033-723-2 .
swell
- Plantagenet Somerset Fry: The David & Charles Book of Castles , David & Charles, Newton Abbott 1980. ISBN 0-7153-7976-3 .
Web links
Coordinates: 55 ° 14 '8.2 " N , 2 ° 5' 50.6" W.