A visit to Chillingham Castle illustrates the burden and benefits of owning 800 years of history in a fabulously eclectic family home. Situated in Northumbria on the Scottish borders the castle has seen plenty of action but remained in the same family since 1246.
Visiting Chillingham Castle
Chillingham is well signposted and easy to get to, as long as you’re ok with the narrow Northumbrian lateral roads. There is a large and shaded car park and then there’s a 5 minute walk to the castle itself.
I’d recommend buying the guide book as it is a lot better than the usual dry list of dates. The cafe is nice too in the Great Hall. We didn’t do any of the woodland walks as we didn’t have time on this visit but we spent a good couple of hours in the castle interior.
There is also the option to extend your visit to Chillingham Castle by booking an overnight stay, either in the castle itself or in the coach rooms. Information on your visit or stay is on the Chillingham Castle website here.
My Experience
Chillingham Castle is a unique visit and is a truly warts and all experience. The gardens are beautifully presented and manicured with fantastic borders that are a riot of colour. The lawns are as pristine as you’d expect, so far so good.
Inside, the house superbly exhibits the challenges and opportunities of inheriting a slice of history. Some rooms are barely restored, most have an incredible collection of artifacts that span a thousand years, seemingly with no sense of organisation. The tour was totally different to the sanitised and artificial, although very well done, experience at Warwick. That being said, more labeling of items would be useful.
The guide book is excellent value and gives a personal tour of the rooms and their contents, I found this far more entertaining than some other books that cost three times as much. The cafe had some lovely cakes and was in the great hall. The staff were very helpful in explaining the history of each room and the items they contained as well as illustrating the dilemmas – when you are restoring a 1000 year old room do you go back to the Victorian era? or the Jacobite? Tudor? Medieval? Norman? A property with so many layers that has evolved over so long a period never just has one face.
A visit to Chillingham Castle is a great way of putting in context the challenges the owners of these properties have in keeping them warm, watertight and financially viable.
Chillingham Castle Photo Gallery
History
The first castle at Chillingham was built in the twelfth century on the site of a former monastery. Consisting of a tower and curtain wall, this structure was little more than a fortified manor house. Built by the Grey family, descendants of the Croys (kinsmen of William the Conqueror), they had taken over the manor to augment their wider holdings in the region at Heton, Horton and Wark. Of particular interest at Chillingham was a large herd of wild cattle which was seen as a ready use food source. These animals, originally enclosed by the Romans who had used them for pagan sacrifices, were prized in the volatile border region as an ‘unstealable’ resource – their fierce nature precluding cattle rustling.
In 1297, following the rebellion of John Balliol and the start of the first War of Scottish Independence, Chillingham was attacked by Sir William Wallace. Earlier that year he had defeated the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, been appointed ‘Guardian of Scotland’ and had overrun the country. He raided over the border and Chillingham town was badly damaged although the castle survived. The following year the castle hosted Edward I as he rode north to deal with the rebellion ultimately defeating Wallace at the Battle of Falkirk (1298).
Edward III granted Sir Thomas de Heaton a licence to crenellate Chillingham in 1344. He made substantial upgrades to the structure significantly improving its defences. The curtain wall was enhanced to make a quadrangular enclosure with the existing tower guarding one corner whilst a further three were added on each of the others. A moat surrounded the entire structure. The new fortress proved timely for in 1345 David II led a large Scottish army into Northumberland. His invasion came to an abrupt end with his capture at the Battle of Neville’s Cross (1345) but there followed a period of 250 years where the entire region became a lawless area dominated by border reivers. Chillingham, along with the other substantive castles in Northumberland, acted as secure bases from which the Marcher Lords attempted to control this troublesome region.
Chillingham Castle was badly damaged in 1513 when it was attacked by an invading Scottish army under James IV acting in support of Louis XII of France who was under increasing pressure from Henry VIII’s military campaigns on the continent. With an army perhaps as large as 60,000 men strong, supported by extensive artillery, he quickly reduced the key border strongholds at Norham and Wark. By contrast to those fortifications, Chillingham was a much weaker structure that was never intended to withstand an assault by such a force. Unsurprisingly, after a short bombardment, the castle’s garrison surrendered. But Scottish control did not last long; Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey mustered a northern army at Alnwick Castle and decisively defeated the Scots – and killed King James IV – at the Battle of Flodden (1513). The Greys, who fought alongside Surrey at Flodden, were soon back in control of Chillingham.
The castle saw an attack of a different kind in 1536 during the Pilgrimage of Grace, a rebellion against Henry VIII’s reforms to the English church. The castle withstood the attack albeit with some damage prompting rebuilding work in the subsequent years.
Following the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, James VI of Scotland ascended to the English throne as James I. This led to an end of the regular border warfare between the two nations and the military requirement for Chillingham Castle ceased. Throughout the next 250 years the castle was slowly converted into a comfortable residence with its defensive features reduced or removed. The moat was filled in during the mid-seventeenth century and large windows added to the corner towers. The improvements to the castle were lavish enough to secure Royal visits – James I and Charles I both stayed at Chillingham.
In 1695 Sir William Grey was created Earl of Tankerville but he died 6 years later without leaving a male heir. The castle and title passed to Charles Bennet, through his marriage with Lady Mary Grey, whose family would hold the lands until the twentieth century. They continued the transformation of the castle employing Capability Brown to landscape the grounds in 1752 and later Sir Jeffrey Wyatville, who had been responsible for work at Windsor Castle, to create the impressive gardens in 1828. Chillingham Castle was sold to Sir Humphry Wakefield, a descendant of the original Grey family, in 1982.
References
Chillingham Castle’s website is here.
The history above is copied from the excellent castlesfortsbattles website here.