Etal Castle

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Exterior of Etal Castle gatehouse

Etal Castle is a ruined castle in the village of Etal in the English county of Northumberland . Robert Manners had the castle built around 1341 ; it consisted of a residential tower , a gatehouse and a corner tower, which were protected by a curtain wall. Etal Castle was involved in both local conflicts and the border wars between England and Scotland . In 1428 there was a battle between the rival Manners and Heron families outside the castle walls, and in 1513 the castle was briefly captured by King James IV of Scotland during his invasion of England.

In 1547 the castle passed into the hands of the Crown and was garrisonized as part of the border defense against Scotland. Then it fell into disrepair and was abandoned as a military fortress in 1603. From the 18th century it was no longer inhabited and fell into ruin. Today, in the 21st century, the castle ruins belong to the Joicey family but are managed by English Heritage . This organization listed it as a historical building of the first degree and is considered a Scheduled Monument .

history

14th and 15th centuries

Etal Castle was built around 1341 for Robert Manners after he was killed by King Edward III. had received a permit to fortify his house (English "License to Crenellate"). This was done to defend the place against attacks by the Scots. The manor of Etal had been in the hands of the Manners family since 1242 at the latest.

Residential tower (left). You can see the lighter sandstone that was used for the upper parts of the building. Gatehouse (right).

The oldest part of the castle is the residential tower. This tower could have been built around 1341 on the site of an older, non-fortified family house. Part of the old house was probably integrated into the new, fortified tower. But there is also the possibility that the central tower was built completely with battlements at the end of the 13th or beginning of the 14th century . In this case, the permit for fortification was granted, which King Edward III. granted, only for the enclosing wall. Around the 1350s, the castle was surrounded by a manor that included grain and fulling mills , lime kilns and coal mines .

Work continued under Robert's son, John Manners , who inherited the property in 1354 when he was still young. In 1355, when Sir Edward de Letham took charge of the estate, the castle was described as Fortalice , a poorly defensive property. In 1368, when the administration of the ward passed to his widow Joan , Etal Castle was a full-fledged castle. De Lethan was a powerful regional nobleman. He could be the ward administration of King Edward III. received, with which he assured himself of his loyalty in the face of the Scottish military advances. He and his wife allegedly ran down the surrounding property, which resulted in a commission being set up to investigate this abuse.

Inside of the gatehouse

John Manners died in 1402 and probably left the castle to his son, Robert Manners , who in turn left it to his son, John Manners . John Manners was involved in a long-running dispute with the neighboring Heron family , who owned the neighboring Ford Castle . On January 20, 1428, there was a fight between the two families just outside Etal Castle in which William Heron died. The exact occurrences are unclear and formed the basis of a subsequent court hearing. John Manners alleged that William Heron attacked the castle and died during that attack and that John Manners was not directly involved in his death. William Heron's widow accused John Manners and his eldest son, who was also called John , to be guilty of William's death, and demanded compensation. After an arbitration by the church, John Manners agreed to have 500 masses read for William Heron's soul and to pay his widow 250 marks .

In 1438, another son of John Manners, Robert , inherited the castle and the estate. As a result of the wars with the Scots, the fighting with the neighbors and poverty, the value of the lands had fallen significantly in the previous years. Robert's son, another Robert Manners , inherited the property in 1464 and passed the castle on to his son George when he died in 1495 . George Manners inherited the title of Baron de Ros from the maternal side of his family and the family abandoned the castle as a residence in the late 15th century when they moved closer to the royal court.

16th Century

Thomas Girtin's painting of the castle from 1797

With the Manners no longer there, Etal Castle was administered by the Collingwood family who gradually became the castle's hereditary constables . They leased the Fronhofland on the property from the owner family. The castle was heavily involved in the border wars between England and Scotland; Usually it was occupied by a garrison of 100 men and thus formed an important strategic defense installation in the line behind the defensive structures directly on the border.

In August 1513, King James IV of Scotland invaded England with a large army. Armed with modern artillery , he took the frontier fortresses of Norham Castle and Wark-on-Tweed Castle and moved south to Etal Castle. Etal Castle surrendered quickly, hoping to avoid pillage by Jacob's army, but the castle was nonetheless partially demolished to prevent it from being used as a defensive structure again.

After the British victory in the Battle of Flodden Field the following month, the castle was retaken by the English, garrisoned and used by Lord Dacre to store the captured Scottish artillery under the supervision of Sir Philip Tilney . Lord Dacre used the castle intensively in 1515 and 1516. In 1541, a royal commission reported that the buildings were in a "very bad state" and requested repairs.

The Crown bought the castle from the Manners in 1547 in exchange for other lands in England and set John Elleker and a garrison of 100 mounted and 200 foot soldiers as administrator of the castle. Within just two years, the Collingwoods were once again serving as constables at the castle, a position they would hold by the end of this century. The castle remained important as a defensive structure near the border, but fell into disrepair: in 1564 it was described as in poor condition, "barely still able to offer the captain quarters". In 1580 another report mentioned the same problems and in 1584 commissioners wrote that the lack of maintenance had resulted in repairs on the order of £ 200 for many years.

17th to 21st century

In 1603 King James VI inherited . of Scotland the English royal throne and united both countries. Etal Castle had lost its military value and soon passed into private hands. In the 18th century the castle was also given up as a residence and the ruins formed the basis for a watercolor by Thomas Girtin in 1797 based on his visit in autumn 1796.

Lord Joicey bought the castle in 1908 and in 1922 the ivy was removed from the ruins and the mortar bands were added. In 1975 the castle passed to the state and archaeological excavations were carried out on the site in 1978, 1983, 1994 and 1998. Today, in the 21st century, the castle ruins are managed by English Heritage, who have listed it as a Grade I Historic Building. It is also considered a Scheduled Monument.

architecture

Floor plan of the castle: A - corner tower; B - residential tower; C - outer bailey; D - gatehouse

Etal Castle originally stood over a bridge over the Till and was protected by steep dams that sloped down towards the river. The castle forms a rectangular enclosure, about 55 meters × 49 meters in size, protected by a relatively thin stone curtain only 1.37 meters thick. The largest part of the wall above ground has been destroyed and only the foundations have been preserved.

The residential tower in the northeast corner could be entered through a porch, which was unusual for this area. The porch was 5.3 meters by 2.69 meters and protected by a portcullis . The residential tower was four stories high; each floor could be reached via a spiral staircase and contained a large and a small room. The residential tower is made of sandstone ; the porch and top floor are made of lighter sandstone than the lower floors and could have been added later. The ground floor measures 14 meters by 9.8 meters and originally had a vaulted ceiling. The upper floors were well lit with large skylights ; the windows were provided with window seats. The first and second floors were probably used by the Manners family and were equipped with large open chimneys; the third floor was intended for the servants. The residential tower was probably connected to the adjoining knight's hall building through a door on the first floor. However, there is no longer any trace of this hall building.

The gatehouse in the southeast corner has a footprint of 11 × 11 meters, and its arched passage was originally secured by a portcullis, a gate and a drawbridge . There were vaulted guard rooms on either side of the passage, 6.4 meters long and up to 2 meters wide. On the first floor, which no longer exists today, there was a large chamber measuring 6.7 meters × 5.8 meters and a 2.29 meters × 2.29 meters anteroom. A passage led to a kind of porch or platform. The gatehouse was what architectural historian "Anthony Emery" described as a "flaming window drawing", with the Manners' coat of arms carved over the entrance to the gatehouse.

The tower in the northwest corner has a floor space of 4.3 meters × 3.2 meters inside, an entrance door on the east side and originally a loft floor . It is not certain that there was a second corner tower in the south-east corner of the castle; Excavations in 1978 at a place where one suspected such a site did not reveal any traces and a geophysical survey in 1998 produced an unclear result.

Individual references and comments

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Anthony Emery: Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales, 1300–1500 . Volume 1: Northern England . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1996, ISBN 0-521-49723-X , p. 91.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Etal Castle tower house . Historic England. English Heritage. Retrieved March 24, 2016.
  3. ↑ a b c W. AJ Archbold: Manners, Sir Robert (d. 1354). In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 2008, accessed March 24, 2016 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h Anthony Emery: Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales, 1300–1500 . Volume 1: Northern England . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1996, ISBN 0-521-49723-X , p. 92.
  5. ^ A b Andy King, Michael Penman: England and Scotland in the Fourteenth Century: New Perspectives . Chapter: Best of Enimies: Were the Fourteenth-Century Anglo-Scottish Marches a 'Frontier Society'? Boydell Press, Woodbridge 2007, ISBN 978-1-84383-318-5 , p. 124.
  6. ^ A b Kenneth Hotham Vickers: The History of Northumberland . Volume XI: The Parishes of Carham, Branxton, Kirknewton, Wooler and Ford . A. Reid, Sons and Company, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1922, p. 461.
  7. ↑ Kenneth Hotham Vickers: The History of Northumberland . Volume XI: The Parishes of Carham, Branxton, Kirknewton, Wooler and Ford . A. Reid, Sons and Company, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1922, pp. 449-450.
  8. ↑ Kenneth Hotham Vickers: The History of Northumberland . Volume XI: The Parishes of Carham, Branxton, Kirknewton, Wooler and Ford . A. Reid, Sons and Company, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1922, pp. 379-380.
  9. ^ A b c Adrian Pettifer: English Castles: A Guide by Counties . Boydell Press, Woodbridge 2002, ISBN 0-85115-782-3 , p. 184.
  10. ^ A b Kenneth Hotham Vickers: The History of Northumberland . Volume XI: The Parishes of Carham, Branxton, Kirknewton, Wooler and Ford . A. Reid, Sons and Company, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1922, pp. 380-381.
  11. ↑ Kenneth Hotham Vickers: The History of Northumberland . Volume XI: The Parishes of Carham, Branxton, Kirknewton, Wooler and Ford . A. Reid, Sons and Company, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1922, p. 381.
  12. ^ A b Kenneth Hotham Vickers: The History of Northumberland . Volume XI: The Parishes of Carham, Branxton, Kirknewton, Wooler and Ford . A. Reid, Sons and Company, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1922, p. 450.
  13. ^ A b Kenneth Hotham Vickers: The History of Northumberland . Volume XI: The Parishes of Carham, Branxton, Kirknewton, Wooler and Ford . A. Reid, Sons and Company, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1922, pp. 450-451.
  14. ↑ Kenneth Hotham Vickers: The History of Northumberland . Volume XI: The Parishes of Carham, Branxton, Kirknewton, Wooler and Ford . A. Reid, Sons and Company, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1922, pp. 450-452, 461.
  15. ↑ Kenneth Hotham Vickers: The History of Northumberland . Volume XI: The Parishes of Carham, Branxton, Kirknewton, Wooler and Ford . A. Reid, Sons and Company, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1922, pp. 461-462.
  16. Jump up ↑ George Goodwin: Fatal Rivalry: Flodden, 1513: Henry VIII, James IV and the Battle for Renaissance Britain . WW Norton, New York 2013, ISBN 978-0-297-86739-5 , p. 4.
  17. ↑ John Sadler, Rosie Serdiville: The Battle of Flodden 1513 . Stroud History Press, Stroud 2013, ISBN 978-0-7524-6537-1 , p. 28.
  18. ↑ Derek Dodds: Northumbria at War . Pen and Sword Military, Barnsley 2005, ISBN 1-84415-149-2 , p. 109.
  19. ↑ a b c d e f Kenneth Hotham Vickers: The History of Northumberland . Volume XI: The Parishes of Carham, Branxton, Kirknewton, Wooler and Ford . A. Reid, Sons and Company, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1922, p. 462.
  20. Jump up ↑ George Goodwin: Fatal Rivalry: Flodden, 1513: Henry VIII, James IV and the Battle for Renaissance Britain . WW Norton, New York 2013, ISBN 978-0-297-86739-5 , p. 209.
  21. ↑ It is difficult to compare sixteenth-century sums of money with modern sums of money. £ 200 out of 1584 can be worth anywhere from £ 51,940 to £ 13.91 million in 2013, depending on the conversion rate used.
  22. ↑ Lawrence H. Officer, Samuel H. Williamson: Five Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a UK Pound Amount, 1270 to Present. (No longer available online.) MeasuringWorth, 2014, archived from the original on August 26, 2014 ; accessed on March 24, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.measuringworth.com
  23. ↑ Collection On-line. British Museum, accessed March 24, 2016 .
  24. ^ A b Kenneth Hotham Vickers: The History of Northumberland . Volume XI: The Parishes of Carham, Branxton, Kirknewton, Wooler and Ford . A. Reid, Sons and Company, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1922, p. 464.
  25. ↑ a b c Etal Castle. English Heritage / Pastscape, accessed March 24, 2016 .
  26. ^ A b Barbara Harbottle, Margaret Ellison: An Excavation at Etal Castle, Northumberland, in 1979 in Archaeologia Aeliana . Issue 29 (2001), ISSN  0261-3417 , p. 235.
  27. ↑ Etal Castle. English Heritage, accessed March 24, 2016 .
  28. ↑ Kenneth Hotham Vickers: The History of Northumberland . Volume XI: The Parishes of Carham, Branxton, Kirknewton, Wooler and Ford . A. Reid, Sons and Company, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1922, pp. 464, 469.
  29. ^ A b Kenneth Hotham Vickers: The History of Northumberland . Volume XI: The Parishes of Carham, Branxton, Kirknewton, Wooler and Ford . A. Reid, Sons and Company, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1922, p. 469.
  30. ^ A b Kenneth Hotham Vickers: The History of Northumberland . Volume XI: The Parishes of Carham, Branxton, Kirknewton, Wooler and Ford . A. Reid, Sons and Company, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1922, p. 466.
  31. ^ Anthony Emery: Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales, 1300-1500 . Volume 1: Northern England . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1996, ISBN 0-521-49723-X , pp. 91-92.
  32. ↑ Kenneth Hotham Vickers: The History of Northumberland . Volume XI: The Parishes of Carham, Branxton, Kirknewton, Wooler and Ford . A. Reid, Sons and Company, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1922, p. 468.
  33. ^ A b Kenneth Hotham Vickers: The History of Northumberland . Volume XI: The Parishes of Carham, Branxton, Kirknewton, Wooler and Ford . A. Reid, Sons and Company, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1922, p. 465.

Web links

Commons : Etal Castle  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 55 ° 38 '53.2 "  N , 2 ° 7' 14.5"  W.