Prudhoe Castle
Prudhoe Castle is a ruined castle from the Middle Ages on the south bank of the Tyne in the town of Prudhoe in the English county of Northumberland . It is a Scheduled Monument and English Heritage has listed it as a Grade I Historic Building.
The Umfravilles
Archaeological excavations have shown that the first castle on this site was a Norman moth , erected sometime in the middle of the 11th century. After the Norman conquest of England , the Umfraville family took control of the castle. Robert de Umfraville formally received the barony of Prudhoe from King Henry I , but it is likely that the Unfravilles had already received Prudhoe by the end of the 11th century. The family (probably Robert) initially replaced the wooden palisades with a massive wall made of clay and stones and later had a stone curtain wall and a gatehouse built.
In 1173 the Scottish troops of William the Lion marched into northeast England and William himself claimed the Earldom of Northumberland. The head of the Umfraville family, Odinel II , refused to follow him, whereupon the Scottish army tried to take Prudhoe Castle. The attempt failed because the Scots were not prepared for a long siege. The following year Wilhelm attacked the castle again, but found that Odinel had reinforced the garrison, and so the Scottish army moved on after a siege that lasted only three days. After this siege, Odinel had the fortifications extended and a knight's hall and a stone donjon added.
Odinel II died in 1182 and his son Richard followed him. Richard was one of the barons who opposed King John Ohneland and thus lost his possessions to the crown. They remained confiscated until 1217, a year after the king's death. Richard died in 1226 and was inherited by his son Gilbert , who in turn was succeeded by his son, also Gilbert . From his mother this Gilbert inherited the title of Earl of Angus and extensive lands in Scotland, but continued to spend some time at Prudhoe Castle. Gilbert participated in the conflict between Henry III. and his barons, as well as in the Scottish campaigns of Edward I. He died in 1307 and his son, Robert de Umfraville, 8th Earl of Angus succeeded him. In 1314 Robert was captured by the Scots after the Battle of Bannockburn , but soon released when he also lost the title of Earl of Angus and lost his Scottish possessions. In 1316 King Edward II granted Robert 700 marks to maintain a garrison of 40 armed men and 80 light riders in Prudhoe. In 1381 the last of the line, Gilbert de Umfraville, 9th Earl of Angus , died without descendants. His widow married Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland . After her death in 1398 the castle fell to the Percy family .
The Percys
Shortly after taking over the castle, the Percys had a new knight's hall built. Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland , fought King Henry IV and participated in the Battle of Shrewsbury , for which he was indicted and his estates, including Prudhoe Castle, confiscated in 1405 in favor of the Crown. In the same year the castle was given to the future Duke of Bedford , a son of Henry IV. The castle remained in the duke's hands until the duke's death in 1435 and then reverted to the crown.
The Percys regained their ownership of Prudhoe Castle in 1440 after a lengthy legal process. But Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland , fought on the side of the House of Lancaster in the Wars of the Roses and fell at the Battle of Towton in 1461 . In 1462 King Edward IV gave Prudhoe Castle a fief to his younger brother George , the Duke of Clarence . The latter only owned the castle briefly before the king gave it to Lord Montague as a fief.
In 1470 the castle was returned to Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland . The headquarters of the Percys was Alnwick Castle , and Prudhoe Castle was mostly leased. In 1528, however, Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland , resided at the castle and later his brother, Sir Thomas Percy, did the same. Both the Earl and Sir Thomas were critically implicated in the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536 , and both were also convicted and executed for treason. Their lands were confiscated by the Crown and in August 1537 a charter found that Prudhoe Castle had habitable houses and towers within its walls, but that they were a bit shabby and in need of £ 20 worth of repairs.
Around 1557 the castle was returned to Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland . In 1569 he was convicted for his participation in the Rising of the North , managed to escape, but was arrested again and executed in 1572. The castle was then leased out several times and was no longer used as a residence for the nobles from the 1660s. In 1776 it was described as ruinous.
From 1808 to 1817, Hugh Percy, 2nd Duke of Northumberland , had extensive repairs carried out on the old masonry and replaced the old residential buildings within the walls with a Georgian mansion adjacent to the donjon.
In 1966 the Percys handed the castle over to the crown. Today it is managed by English Heritage and is open to the public.
description
The castle stands on a 45 m high range of hills on the south bank of the Tyne. It is partially enclosed by a deep moat. The terrain slopes steeply to the north towards the river. The main entrance to the castle is on the south side. The mill pond on the left and the ruins of a watermill on the right flank the path to the castle. You enter the castle through a barbican from the first half of the 14th century. The path leads through the gatehouse from the beginning of the 12th century to the outer bailey , where the remains of various buildings can be found. On the north side, against the curtain wall, are the remains of the knight's hall, which was 18 m × 14 m in size and which the Percys had built after taking over the castle. At the end of the 15th century, the new knight's hall was built to the west and replaced the old one.
The mansion from the beginning of the 19th century is on the west side of the outer courtyard . A souvenir shop and showrooms are now located there. At the south end of the manor house is the gateway to the main castle . The main building of the inner castle is the donjon from the 12th century. It has 3 meter thick walls and its internal dimensions are 7.3 m × 6.1 m. It originally had two floors under a double-roofed roof.
swell
- Plantagenet Somerset Fry: The David and Charles Book of Castles . David & Charles, 1980. ISBN 0715379763 . P. 282.
- MH Dodds: History of Northumberland . Volume XII. 1926. pp. 111-125.
- Glen Lyndon Dodds: Historic Sites of Northumberland & Newcastle upon Tyne . 2000. ISBN 0-952512-21-1 .
Web links
- Prudhoe Castle NorthOfTheTyne.co.uk
- Prudhoe Castle . Gatehouse Gazetteer.
- Prudhoe Castle, Northumberland . Heritage Trail.
- Prudhoe Castle . English Heritage.
Coordinates: 54 ° 57 ′ 54.7 ″ N , 1 ° 51 ′ 31 ″ W.