Edlingham Castle. Photo by Peter Ryder.

NU11610921 Edlingham Castle (Ruins of). (1)

The four walls shown are in crumbling condition standing between 10ft and 15ft high. The earthworks are about 4ft. (2)

Edlingham Castle, Scheduled Ancient Monument. (3)

The castle is first mentioned as belonging to Sir John de Felton who died in 1396. A list of castles dated 1415 gives the owner as Sir Edmund Hastings who married the daughter of Sir John de Felton. (4)

A survey of c.1715 states that the castle is in ruins. (5)

In addition to the tower of the castle there are also considerable remains of the barmkin or courtyard. The general plan consists of a rectangular courtyard with projections to the east and west, that to the east being the keep or tower with flanking walls connecting it with the north and south curtains. The projection on the west side may have been a gatehouse. There are also indications of buildings at the north east and south east corners of the courtyard.
The keep is square in plan, three stories in height, and with angle buttresses. The entrance on the west side shows traces of having been protected by a two-storeyed forebuilding. The west wall also contains a circular newel staircase.
The principal floor which has a groined ceiling was at one time divided by a floor to form a loft or chamber. The remains of fireplaces exist at both levels and the room was lit by small square-headed windows and what appears to be single light ogee-headed windows with trefoil cusping. The room measures 22ft square internally.
The upper floor, 24ft square, and reached by the newel staircase contains a fireplace. The only other feature remaining is a small square-headed window.
The basement, now filled with rubble is quite inaccessible. It possessed a fireplace the flue of which is visible at the back of the fireplace in the room above. In the east wall is a garderobe shaft and a drain or water outlet.
In the north east corner of the courtyard there are fragments of a two-storeyed building with plinth courses and small loops or windows at each floor level. At the south east corner of the courtyard are fragments of masonry, part of which has been rounded on the interior for a well or staircase.
At the west end of the courtyard the walling is two-storeyed and like the tower, of massive construction. It contains a shoulder-headed door or window jamb. (6)

The moat at the north side, fed by Edlingham burn, may still be traced. (7)

The fireplace on the lower floor is dated to c.1330. (8)

Architectural description in T3 correct. The plan reproduced in T3 of the extant remains is also correct except for the omission of the wall on the north east side of the courtyard, the foundations of which are visible. The portrayal of the remains on the OS 25 inch is poor and the site needs resurveying.
The walls of the tower have an average width of 2m and are approx 10m high. The fragments of the courtyard wall have an average width of 1.2m and vary in height from 0.5m to 5m. The banks representing buried foundations vary in height from 0.5m to 1.5m.
In the vicinity of the tower are several grass-covered mounds probably covering fallen masonry as the buried foundations of outbuildings.
The remains of the castle are generally in poor condition and badly neglected.
From information in (8) the probable date of the castle is early 14th century.
To the north of the castle the ground has been badly disturbed by water-worn gullies, surface quarrying etc and has a very 'hummocky' appearance, but there are no definite traces of the moat referred to in (7). (9)

Grade 1. (10)

No change since report of 27/1/55; see additional ground photographs. Published survey of earthworks 25 inch revised. (11)

Edlingham Castle ruins, Grade I.
Castle: Hall house probably c1295-1300 for William Felton, on earlier moated site; curtain wall and gatehouse mid-14th century; solar tower perhaps c.1400; courtyard ranges re-planned in 16th century. Rectangular hall house with octagonal corner turrets; quadrangular court on north with domestic ranges on east and north and projecting gatehouse in centre of north curtain; square solar tower on south.
The buildings stand to a height of 1m-2m except for the solar tower and a fragment of the south east turret. The cobbled courtyard is well preserved.
The manor was purchased by William Felton from Thomas de Edlingham in 1295 and remained the principal residence of his family until 15th century. The Swinburnes acquired the estate in 1514 and remained their seat until c.1630. The buildings were being pulled down in 1661.
There is a duplication of suites of private apartments between the hall house and the solar tower and historical evidence suggests the castle was divided between two autonomous households in 1402. (12)

Excavation of (?)late 13th century hall house completed; self-contained building. To the north is an enclosed courtyard. The curtain wall possibly later 18th century date. Possible 15th/16th century east range excavated - can be identified with the bakehouse and brewhouse in an Inventory of 1572. Courtyard reduced in size at a later date. (13)

Third excavation season in 1980. The earliest E curtain wall enclosed a larger area, apparently replacing a moated enclosure. Five periods of construction identified in the tower - 13th to 15th century. By 16th century the castle had lost much of its military character. (14)

Continued excavation. Five periods of the tower refined. The east curtain walls seen to replace at least two phases of moated enclosure - the later c.1300, the earlier pre-dated all known activity on the site. Gatehouse excavated - minimum of three phases. (15)

Fifth excavation season (1982). North defences and gatehouse. Gatehouse of two main periods - first of mid to late 14th century. North defences of castle followed similar sequence to the east defences. The early moat continued as the north limit of hall house. (16)

[Excavation summaries]. (17)(18)

Before excavation the site consisted of a walled enclosure with remains of a gatehouse tower on the north, residential tower on the south and some indication of additional buildings north of this. [Summary of 1978 excavations]. (19)

NU 1161 0920. Edlingham Castle fortified manor and solar tower. Scheduled RSM No 23227. The hall, solar tower, curtain wall and gatehouse of a late 13th to 14th century fortified manor and an outer defensive earthwork. Included within the courtyard are drains and the remains of service buildings from all periods of occupation. Earlier examples survive as buried features beneath 16th century upstanding remains. The earliest standing remains are those of the hall. Built between c.1295 and 1300, this structure stood on the S side of a cobbled courtyard and was a rectangular building with octagonal corner turrets. Only a fragment of the SE turret survives to any height, but the building would originally have been two storeyed. In the mid-14th century a curtain wall and projecting gatehouse were built to enclose the hall and courtyard, thereby strengthening the rampart which originally surrounded the manor and survives as an earthwork measuring c.12m wide by c.1m high. Only the base of the curtain wall and gatehouse remain standing, but enough of the latter survives to show that it included three arches, the central retaining the groove for the portcullis. The foundations of the service buildings which survive as foundations around the inner face of the curtain wall are all 16th century and date from a replanning of the courtyard ranges after 1514.
The solar tower was built in the mid to late 14th century. Its N and W walls survive almost to their full height of three storeys. There is a forebuilding on the N side which originally connected with the hall. The ground floor of the tower is unusual in that it clearly served as a comfortable private chamber and not the more usual storeroom. The original hall and fortifications were built by William Felton after he purchased the manor from Thomas de Edlingham in 1295. It remained the principal residence of his family until c.1402 when historical records suggest that it was split between two households, each concurrently occupying either the tower house or hall. In 1514 the estate was purchased by the Swinburnes who rebuilt the courtyard buildings and lived there until c.1630. By 1661 the buildings were being dismantled for their stone. The standing remains have been in State care since 1975. (20)

Summary of history and development taken from Fairclough (1984). (21)

A fragment of woven braid in silk and silver-gilt-covered threads with a picoted edge, from excavations in 1979, was analysed by the Ancient Monuments Laboratory in 1988. It measured about 32-34cm long by 1cm wide and is of a type used for the decoration of fashionable men's and women's garments in the 16th and early 17th centuries. (22)

Report of the main excavations at Edlingham Castle. (23a)

Detailed article on the spatial and functional development of medieval buildings, taking Edlingham Castle as a case study. The study examines changing use and access patterns, noting for example the proliferation of isolated chambers in the 14th century, mainly at the expense of "public" space, as the Feltons attempted to accommodate extended family, friends, retainers and other dependents. This trend ends in the 16th century as the realtionship between lord and dependents changed. There is also a tendency to "hide" service areas later on. (23b)

Brief accessible description and history of Edlingham Castle and the role of the Felton family for visitors. (23c)