Ogle Castle. Photo Northumberland County Council, 1969.

(NZ 14057908) Ogle Castle, moat. (1)

An account of 1664 states that the castle was small but strong with 'several towers upon the wall, built in a half-round outwardly and in a square within, surrounded by a double moat and drawbridges before the gate'. Little of it remained in 1776 and in 1827 the building was gone and the west end of the moat was the only survival. The succeeding house (now a farm) is 17th century and was probably once a place of some consequence. (2)

Licence to crenellate was granted on May 11th 1341, and a list of 1415 mentions a 'castrum' at Ogle. (3)

Some pieces of the walling of the castle are said to be incorporated in the present building, which is supposed to stand on the foundations of its south west corner (a). The moat where it survives on the west and north sides only, has an average depth of 2m. See photograph. (4)

Published survey (25 inch) of moat revised. See photograph of manor house. (5)

Grade I Listed: Ogle Castle
Grade II Listed: Barn at Ogle Castle
Grade I Listed: Double moat at Ogle Castle
Tower house probably dating from 1341, with a later medieval manor house added. A sundial dated 1717. All stone, with steeply pitched stone roof, centre and end chimneys. Present front of two storeys has a studded door in chamfered frame with label, three windows on ground floor and four above (mullioned). Rear has staircase wing. Projecting chimney and corbelled garderobe projection. External stone stairs to upper door at side. Gabled wing has an original window on first floor of six lights, and a two-light window in gable. Long brick and pantiled barn to right at right angles to main house, (to east, extending south) and attached to it. Double moat still traceable. On 1952 List. (6)

Ogle Castle, Grade I listed building. House, probable hall block of former castle. Main block early 16th century remodelling of medieval fabric. West wing added in 16th century. Restoration and minor additions in 20th century. Double moat reassessed as not listable. The house may have been the main half of a castle with curtain wall and half-round towers. Hutchinson in 1776 records the remains of a circular tower to east of the house, demolished when gable end rebuilt and farm buildings added. (See List for full architectural account). (7)

The present Ogle Castle is in an Early Tudor style - quite rare in Northumberland. It appears to represent a medieval structure of uncertain plan, largely rebuilt in two stages in the first half of the 16th century. The domestic aspect suggests that defence was not a major priority, or that the medieval castle's enceinte remained complete enough to provide security. (8)

Ogle Castle stands at the east end of the village of Ogle. A plan of 1632 shows the castle as apparently having ranges on three sides of a square court, closed by a wall with a central gateway on the south. A 17th or 18th century print shows it as a chateau-like structure with tall circular angle towers topped by globular spires, set in a broad moat. This may be partly fantasy, although there are antiquarian references showing that Ogle was a defensible structure.
The present house, ignoring minor 20th century additions, is an L-plan block consisting of a two storey east-west range (sometimes termed The Manor House) with a three storey cross wing at its east end (The Tower) projecting mainly to the north. The cross wing is usually regarded as the earliest part of the building. The walls of the east-west range are of roughly squared stone, in contrast to the rather thicker rubble walls of the wing.
The ground floor of the east-west range contains the hall (west and kitchen (east) divided by a cross passage behind the hall stack. The hall, reduced in size by being partitioned to provide a passage along its north side, is heated by a large fireplace which was apparently originally of segmental arched form, with a hood moulding consisting of a hollow and a roll. At some later date, the lintel has been re-cut to a higher flat-topped arch. The hall is lit by two three-light windows on the south, with four-centred heads to the lights and hoodmoulds with turned-back ends. As with all the other windows in this elevation they are largely 20th century restoration, having been converted into sashes in the 19th century.
The cross passage has a square-headed chamfered doorway at each end, that on the north having its lintel crudely cut into a segmental arch. Only the southern jamb now remains of the former doorway into the hall, the wall beyond this having been cut away to form the passage.
The cross wall on the east of the passage may be relatively recent in its present form. The kitchen beyond has a three-light window in the south wall; this is wholly restoration, as an 1827 drawing by Hodgson shows two two-light windows in this position. There is a large segmental-arched fireplace in the east wall, with a smaller recess of similar form (an oven?) to the south; both arches have a rounded arris to the voussoirs. There is a blocked doorway at the west end of the north wall, its position implying that there may have been a predecessor to the present 18th century outshut in this position.
Both hall and kitchen have old ceilings with heavy transverse beams, with concave chamfer stoops and joists with grooved faces.
The present stair is set in a 19th or 20th century wing at the north end of the cross-passage; the doorway at the stair head is formed from a two-light window. There are four similar windows at this level in the south wall, with arched lights and hoodmoulds like the ground floor windows.
The roof of the block has seven principal rafter trusses with collars, possibly of 16th or 17th century date; the longitudinal timbers have mostly been renewed. At the west end of this section of roof is a full-height stone gable, between the roofs of the east-west range and the wing. This section of walling is of especial interest, as it contains a square-headed chamfered window (partly blocked) opening westwards. This is set high up; the manner in which the roof slope cuts its lintel shows that this section of wall was obviously once taller and pre-dates the present roof structure.
The cross-wing is a complex structure and has been much altered. The south gable end has a three-light window on the ground floor of the usual type, with above another three-light window with a transom and square heads to the lights. The 1827 drawing shows both these windows as of four lights, but may be in error as the appear unrestored. There is a smaller two-light window in the gable; the wall thins back considerably at each floor level. The west wall of the wing is especially complex and shows several different fabric types - large rubble in the lower courses at the south end, with smaller coursed rubble above, whilst towards the north end the upper half of the wall appears to have been rebuilt in smaller squared stone of 18th or 19th century character. Towards the south end of the wall is a projecting stack with, directly to the north of it, a second stack corbelled-out at first floor level; the relationship between the two stacks is not clear - the full height one looks at first sight to be the earlier, but this may not be the case.
A lower 19th or 20th century block adjoins the north end of the wing. Above its roof, two small chamfered windows have been re-set in a rebuilt gable.
Internally, the wing is entered from the east-west block by a doorway at the west end of the passage taken out of the hall. This doorway has a chamfered two-centred arch of distinctly 'medieval' type; it has a slightly cambered rear arch, partly obscured (along with its internal north jamb) by a cross wall which appears contemporary with the wing. Adjacent to this doorway, but in the north wall of the east-west block, is a second of similar form except that it has a stepped rather than a chamfered arch. This doorway splays outwards (ie to the north) as if opening into a chamber beyond the wall, where there is now a small 20th century porch. The doorway is blocked, except for a small 20th century window occupying part of its opening; the rear arch, segmental but of quite different construction to the segmental rear arches of the other doorways in the block, can be seen from the porch. Above this pair of doorways a shallow arch is thrown across the internal angle of the block, just below the present first floor, as if to carry the internal projection of a sub-circular stair turret. At first floor level part of this turret remains as a small lobby between the east-west block and the wing, with a chamfered square-headed doorway to each. Scars on the external wall faces suggest that the turret had an external projection as well.
Within the wing, the southernmost ground floor room, now panelled, has a square-headed fireplace on the north, with a moulding similar to that of the Hall fireplace. This is not in situ but was removed from the north wall of the northern first floor room in the wing by Colonel Peile during his mid-20th century changes, when remains of a larger fireplace (associated with the external stack) were seen in the west wall. At first floor level there are remains of a large square-headed fireplace further north in the west wall, served by the corbelled-out stack. Part of its massive lintel has been cut away and replaced by an arch to give headroom approaching a 20th century mullioned window inserted in the rear wall of the stack.
The roof of the wing appears to have similar trusses to those of the east-west block, although there has been considerable alteration. At attic level, the east wall of the southernmost room shows some unusual corbelling, possibly an external feature on the west wall of the earlier east-west block.
CONCLUSIONS:
This is a difficult building to interpret. The picture that emerges seems to be of two blocks of medieval building in the present positions, heavily remodelled in the 16th century. Surviving medieval features are the two two-centred doorways at the north west angle of the east-west block and the west wall of the block, with its high level window looking westwards. This indicates that this wall rose above the roofline of the medieval wing. The east-west block was remodelled in the mid-16th century as a cross passage house.
The 1632 plan seems to show the house as three ranges around a square courtyard, within a moat. The relationship of the present structure to the surviving section of moat suggests that the present east-west range formed the north side of the courtyard and the cross-wing the north part of the west range. Although the drawing does not clearly show any towers, other references testify to their existence. It is not clear whether they were set at the angles of the building, although Hutchinson's reference to one at the east end of the present house suggests that this may have been the case. The quite domestic aspect of the present building and, in particular, its south front, suggests that the enceinte of the medieval castle provided enough security for the 16th century builder to reconstruct their principal domestic suite on the lines of contemporary houses in less troubled parts of the country.
Later alterations to the house have not been investigated in detail. The east gable seems to have been rebuilt in squared-and-tooled stone late in the 18th century when the last tower was demolished.
The building merits an examination of the standing structure and remote sensing techniques around it could shed more light on the plan of the medieval building. Substantial stone footings have been seen by the owners at a depth of c.0.6m both north and south of the house. (9)

Scheduled. (10)

An account of 1664 states that the castle was small but strong with 'several towers upon the wall, built in a half-round outwardly and in a square within, surrounded by a double moat and drawbridge before the gate'. Little of it remained in 1776 and in 1827 the building was gone and the west end of the moat was the only survival. The succeding house (now a farm) is 17th c. and was probably once a place of some consequence. (11a)

The present Ogle Castle is occupied and in good condition though not outstanding. There is no external evidence of pre-17th century fabric. Only the west and north arms of the moat remains, the remainder having been destroyed by farm outbuildings and garden landscaping. That part of the moat still visible is unusually strong. It is 5.0m deep below internal and external banks up to 2.2m high. Surveyed at 1:2500. (11b)

(NZ 14057908) Ogle Castle (L.B.) Moat (L.B.) (11c)

General association with HER 10925, HER 22386, and HER 22387. (11)