Remains of Wark Castle, Carham. Photo by Northumberland County Council.

[NT 82363869] Wark Castle Remains of. (1)

An early 12th century motte and bailey built at the east end of a gravel ridge, and cut off from it by a deep ditch. The motte is also separated from the bailey, to the north east, by a ditch (probably originally palisaded), and the River Tweed forms the north boundary. It was refortified in 1158, and by the early 13th century an octagonal shell keep had been raised on the motte and a curtain, with towers, and a gatehouse in the south east of the outer ward replaced the earlier bailey defences. Probably dismantled in 1549. (2)(3)

Scheduled. (4)

Resurveyed at 1:2500. Generally correctly described, except that the ditch between motte and bailey is no longer discernible. Fragments of the bailey curtain are extant; but no trace of the keep, gatehouse or towers survives. The outer ward (probable burgus) is covered by modern development, and its extent can only be estimated by changes in ground level. See GP AO 55/277/1 for north-east aspect of motte. (5)

Grade I. Remains of The Castle. (6)

Additional reference. (7)

Castle of Wark-on-Tweed, Grade II*. Ruined castle. All that remains is a motte with rubble core of the keep walls. (8)

Scheduled. (9)

Archaeological recording and monitoring of conservation works was carried out in 1997 which revealed that the fragmentary sections of corework around the castle mound were parts of the encircling wall of the 16th century artillery fort, much of which had broken up and slipped on the side of the mound after almost total robbing of the bonding face stone. (10)

Additional reference. (11)

A medieval motte and bailey are visible as earthworks on air photographs centred at NT 8236 3869. The motte is oval in form and measures 38m NWW SEE by 40m NNE SSW. (12)

Wark Castle mound (NT 8235 3871), which was probably originally a motte, occupies the top of a kaim, or glacial ridge, at a point where it lies close to the river and adjacent to an ancient ford. This was the principal crossing point on the Tweed before the bridge was built at Coldstream 2km to the east. The Middle and Outer wards of the castle are arranged to the east of the mound and occupy the area from the crest of the kaim to the river cliff. The Outer Ward, which was intended as a place of refuge for the people of the district, their horses and cattle (8a), occupied a large part of the present village.
The visible remains of the castle must largely relate to the 16th-century building phases as the medieval castle was partly demolished and re-built on numerous occasions. The Inner Ward consists of a mound 11m high with a base diameter of 50m which appears to be a simple motte but must be, in fact, mainly the remains of an artillery platform, "the Ring" of 1543 (8b), enclosing a masonry tower of earlier date. The vertical stonework visible on the west and north sides of the mound is the outer face of "the Ring" while the sloping masonry on the south side may be stone-cladding on the original motte on which "the Ring" stood. The top of the mound has been disturbed by the excavations of 1862 (8c and d) and the trace of a flight of steps, of unknown date, is visible on the east side leading into the Middle Ward. The river wall of the Middle Ward still stands below the garden of Castle Cottage (NT 8237 3878 - NT 8243 3878) to a height of 1.5m. At a lower level is another surviving length of wall-face containing the outfall of a substantial drain (NT 8238 3878). Elsewhere the curtain wall of the Middle Ward survives as a bank 1.4m high running down the north slope of the mound and as a bank 3m high with visible masonry on the east slope of the mound, fading into natural slopes as it curves north-eastward. The Middle and Outer Wards are divided by a massive scarp, up to 7.5m high. No definite trace of the defences of the Outer Ward is now visible. The Great Gatehouse at the east end probably stood at about NT 8255 3864.
The deeply cut hollow-way to the south of this point may be following the line of the defences. Similarly, a drop of 2m from the garden of "Waterside" to the path which runs along its east side (NT 8255 3870 - NT 8255 3877) may indicate the perimeter. There is no trace of the river wall of the Outer Ward except by the junction with the Middle Ward (NT 8246 3878) where a fragment of wall-face about 8m long survives precariously on top of the cliff. According to Johnson's plan of 1561 (Authority 3) the "Town" of Wark was protected by an earthwork. This cannot be traced but its east end was almost certainly formed by the large hollow-way which still forms the east end of the village (NT 8275 3859 - NT 8275 3876).
Further details are given in the account which accompanies the 1:500 and 1:1000 plans made by RCHME in 1992, held in the NMR Archive. (14)

Motte and two baileys , walled in stone with little flanking, much of it built 1157-61. Beseiged on numerous occasions. (15a)

A medieval motte and bailey are visible as earthworks on air photographs centred at NT 8236 3869. The motte is oval in form and measures 38m NWW SEE by 40m NNE SSW. (15b-c)

The original motte and bailey castle of Walter Espec was razed after 1138 when it was besieged by King David of Scotland. Rebuilt in stone by Henry II in 1158. The castle is last documented in 1639 when its armament was removed. (15d)

The Scots destroyed Wark Castle in 1138. It was rebuilt in 1157 and remained a royal possession until 1200. (15e)

Further reference. (15f)

For the designation record of this site please see The National Heritage List for England. (15g-h)