Heaton Castle (Castle Heaton) (Cornhill-on-Tweed)
Castle Heaton, Cornhill. Photo by Peter Ryder.
The barrel vaulted basement at Castle Heaton, Cornhill. Photo by Peter Ryder.
[NT 90114191] Heaton Castle [L.B.] (remains of). (1)
Heaton Castle was destroyed by James IV in 1496, and its site is now covered by farm buildings. The principal remains consist of a large vaulted stable measuring 70 x 17 feet, with projecting turrets. Two wells and fragments of stone carving have been found in the ruins. (2)
The sole remains (apart from the vaulted stable) consist of two buttresses set against the north east wall of the stable and a large projection, (probably the remains of a turret and rampart) on the south-west wall. See G.Ps/ Ao/55/257/5 and 6 and annotated sketch. (3)
Correctly described and condition unchanged, Mr Clark, the owner indicated the site of a well at NT 90124192, but had no knowledge of the other. There are no associated earthworks to the castle. (4)
Remains of Heaton Castle, c.30 yards north west of farmhouse, Grade II*. Vaulted defensible building. Late medieval, c70ft x 25ft. Two storeys. Old wall beneath stone steps on the long west side. Under the steps is a 16th or 17th century doorway. A projection to the left of the steps has a chamfered plinth and medieval masonry. First floor has 19th century windows in old masonry. First floor rebuilt on east side. Interior has a high round tunnel vault rising from c.3ft above ground level. The walls measure c.3ft 6ins thick. The south gable is largely rebuilt. (5)
The one old building on the farm, to the north of the farmhouse and to the east of the main group of farmbuildings, is a north-south range 27m by 7.3m externally. The building is constructed of large squared stones. Although heavy pointing obscures details, it is clear that the stonework of the west side is more regularly coursed (although apparently more heavily weathered). The south gable end is of smaller roughly tooled stone and is clearly of more recent date. A late 19th or early 20th century range of farmbuildings adjoins the north gable end.
On the east side of the building are two massive buttresses, clearly additions. There are a number of blocked loops at ground floor level (some obscured by the pointing) and four recent windows above a set-back about 1m below the eaves (the wall above is of 19th century date). Below the set-back, towards the south end of the wall, are the jambs and sills of two blocked windows.
The west wall is more complex. Just south of centre is a large projection c.3m square, ending in a ragged top at approximately first floor level. To the north of the projection is a shallower one like a broad chimney breast - both prjections have a large chamfered plinth. The north end of the shallower projection is set diagonally to the wall, but appears to have been rebuilt (perhaps last century). A flight of external steps (incorporating some old masonry) rises from the south up to the top of the square projection, from which a door gives access to the first floor granary. The stairs are carried by a brick arch over a gap adjacent to the square projection, beneath which a square headed chamfered doorway gives access to the basement. The windows in the wall are of no great age, except for a ground floor slit near the north end. The section of wall north of the projections is of very irregular masonry and is considerably thinner than the remainder; its original outer face may have been cut away.
As already mentioned, the south gable end, with doorways to both floors, is probably of 19th century date. Irregular masonry projecting through it at its east end suggests that the east wall originally continued further south. The north gable end has an old square headed loop set centrally, just below the line of the vault.
The ground floor of the range is covered by a barrel vault 3.5m high. It is slightly asymmetrical in section, springing from the west wall at a lower level than the east wall. The southern part of the east wall is 1.15m thick, as opposed to the 0.9m of the west wall.
At first floor level the east wall is relatively recent, but the west wall, 1.1m thick, is of old masonry. The only old features are the jamb of a blocked opening 0.94m north of the door and 4m beyond this a blocked square headed opening which appears to have been a fireplace.
The building is not straightforward to interpret. An Elizabethan drawing of Castle Heaton appears to show a quadrangular castle in a ruinous condition. The present building is much more like a strong house in character and may be of c.1600, although the difference in masonry and wall thickness between east and west walls suggests that it incorporates older fabric, possibly the curtain wall of the medieval castle, on the west. Further complexities are hinted at, however, by the blocked windows in the east wall, which are difficult to relate to the position of the vault. The building needs a more detailed investigation than this survey allows. Slight earthwork indications suggest that the courtyard of the castle with a further range of buildings to the east, directly at the head of the steep valley side. (6)
Monitoring of four test pits in November 2014 was carried out in association with works to establish the cause of the vaulted building's outward lean. The test pits were excavated along the building's eastern face and showed fragmentary remains of a probable earlier building survived as a truncated wall in Test Pit 1; this may represent an element of the medieval castle. Test Pit 2 revealed evidence of significant stratigraphic deposits extending 0.6m below ground level and pre-dated the cutting of the foundation trench of the vaulted building. No significant archaeological deposits were seen in Test Pits 3 and 4. Evidence of the foundations of the vaulted building and its buttresses was seen in all four test pits. (7)
The vaulted building incorporates what are though to to be the only standing remains of the former 14th century quadrangular Heaton Castle, traditionally attributed to Sir Thomas Grey, that once stood on the site. The surviving medieval fabric appears to be restricted to elements of the former south-west curtain wall of the castle and includes a small turret, rampart and buttress; the rest of the building, landscape and documentary evidence suggest that the remainder of the castle stood to the east, north and south. The castle was brought to ruin by James IV's Scottish army in 1496 and evidently never repaired or brought back into full use.
The present building is more like a bastle or stronghold than a castle. It has a long ground-floor tunnel-vault which appears to butt against the earlier south-west wall of the former castle wall with what seems to be a former dwelling above. Whether the vault originated in the latter days of the castle's operational life ' set alongside the exterior curtain wall to provide either a cool, dry store, or secure stable ' or was built following the ruination of the castle, is unclear. However, the latter explanation is more likely and it
may have been created to provide the tenant farmer of Heaton with a secure byre for his livestock and a defensible dwelling, or refuge above when border reiving was at its height (a bastle). At nearly 27m long this example is unusually large but similarly unusual versions are known elsewhere in Northumberland ' at Akeld and at Pressen. In the late 18th and 19th centuries a certain
amount of remodelling and reconstruction appears to have taken place, particularly of the first floor which was converted into a granary while the ground floor continued to be used as a stable or byre. In the late 19th century a further single-storeyed cow shed or stable, still extant, was added to the north-west end. More recent changes to the building have included minor repairs, the re-flooring of the upper level and re-roofing.
The building measures about 26.9m by 71.6m externally and 25m by 5.2m internally with a tunnel-vaulted ground-floor chamber and single open room above. It is not a typical bastle because of its great length. Most of the building probably dates from the 16th century, but it does contain earlier fabric thought to be part of the 14th century former Heaton Castle. Alterations were made in the late 18th and/or early 19th century, including the addition of an extension to the north-west elevation, a new external stair and the reconstruction and re-roofing of the first floor.
The landscape associated with the caslte has had little previous investigation. The vaulted building sits in the south-east corner of a fairly level plateau overlooking the River Till. This relatively flat area probably required little in the way of deliberate landscaping in preparation for the castle's construction. The changes to the surroundings of the vaulted building through adapation and devleopment appears to have removed or obscured all physical evidence of the precise position, orientation and layout of the castle's original quadrangular plan. (8)
Remedial works were carried out in 2015 on the unstable east wall. Works included the excavation of trenches to take foundations for two new buttresses against the east face of the wall, into which a concrete slab set on piles would be inserted and a masonry superstructure constructed. During excavation of the northern foundation (Trench A) the below-ground remains of an existing buttress were revealed the foundation butted the wall and was not bonded to it. At the south end of the trench a shallow pit or hollow was observed which pre-dated the east wall of the building and ran below it. Removal of the foundation showed the re-use of a number of worked building stones, two with mouldings; and one sherd of medieval pottery was recovered from below the foundation of the east wall. Trench B revealed no archaeological deposits, although the profile of a negative feature was seen in sections; its contents suggested it had been excavated in fairly recent times.
Archaeological monitoring has further demonstrated that the vaulted building is likely to be of post-medieval date. Evidence (albeit limited) includes the fragment of medieval pottery located in a deposit pre-dating the building, and re-used stones in the foundation of the east wall, including two moulded pieces. (9)
According to Cathcart King Heaton Castle was founded in 1415 and was useless by 1550. It was of a quadrangular type. (10a)
The Eton family (later Hetons) were tenants of the Bishop of Durham in this part of Norhamshire. They had a strong house on this site before the site was sold to Thomas Grey in 1328. Shortly afterwards, Grey knocked the house down and built a very strong, square complex including a keep and a great hold called the Lion's Tower, all contained within a wall with turrets at its four corners and a southern entrance. In 1398, a later Thomas Grey exchanged Heton with the Neville's Castle at Wark. Heton was sacked by King James IV in 1496 and again in 1513, leaving it a virtual ruin. When the Greys obtained legal ownership again in 1559, they had little incentive to repair the buildings, they being ruinous. (10b)
In 2014 English Heritage's Assessment Team (North) carried out an architectural investigation (Level 3) of the vaulted building at Castle Heaton and a detailed earthwork survey (Level 3) of adjacent land to the north and east. (10c-d)
General association with HER 27580 (dovecote to north-east). (10)
Heaton Castle was destroyed by James IV in 1496, and its site is now covered by farm buildings. The principal remains consist of a large vaulted stable measuring 70 x 17 feet, with projecting turrets. Two wells and fragments of stone carving have been found in the ruins. (2)
The sole remains (apart from the vaulted stable) consist of two buttresses set against the north east wall of the stable and a large projection, (probably the remains of a turret and rampart) on the south-west wall. See G.Ps/ Ao/55/257/5 and 6 and annotated sketch. (3)
Correctly described and condition unchanged, Mr Clark, the owner indicated the site of a well at NT 90124192, but had no knowledge of the other. There are no associated earthworks to the castle. (4)
Remains of Heaton Castle, c.30 yards north west of farmhouse, Grade II*. Vaulted defensible building. Late medieval, c70ft x 25ft. Two storeys. Old wall beneath stone steps on the long west side. Under the steps is a 16th or 17th century doorway. A projection to the left of the steps has a chamfered plinth and medieval masonry. First floor has 19th century windows in old masonry. First floor rebuilt on east side. Interior has a high round tunnel vault rising from c.3ft above ground level. The walls measure c.3ft 6ins thick. The south gable is largely rebuilt. (5)
The one old building on the farm, to the north of the farmhouse and to the east of the main group of farmbuildings, is a north-south range 27m by 7.3m externally. The building is constructed of large squared stones. Although heavy pointing obscures details, it is clear that the stonework of the west side is more regularly coursed (although apparently more heavily weathered). The south gable end is of smaller roughly tooled stone and is clearly of more recent date. A late 19th or early 20th century range of farmbuildings adjoins the north gable end.
On the east side of the building are two massive buttresses, clearly additions. There are a number of blocked loops at ground floor level (some obscured by the pointing) and four recent windows above a set-back about 1m below the eaves (the wall above is of 19th century date). Below the set-back, towards the south end of the wall, are the jambs and sills of two blocked windows.
The west wall is more complex. Just south of centre is a large projection c.3m square, ending in a ragged top at approximately first floor level. To the north of the projection is a shallower one like a broad chimney breast - both prjections have a large chamfered plinth. The north end of the shallower projection is set diagonally to the wall, but appears to have been rebuilt (perhaps last century). A flight of external steps (incorporating some old masonry) rises from the south up to the top of the square projection, from which a door gives access to the first floor granary. The stairs are carried by a brick arch over a gap adjacent to the square projection, beneath which a square headed chamfered doorway gives access to the basement. The windows in the wall are of no great age, except for a ground floor slit near the north end. The section of wall north of the projections is of very irregular masonry and is considerably thinner than the remainder; its original outer face may have been cut away.
As already mentioned, the south gable end, with doorways to both floors, is probably of 19th century date. Irregular masonry projecting through it at its east end suggests that the east wall originally continued further south. The north gable end has an old square headed loop set centrally, just below the line of the vault.
The ground floor of the range is covered by a barrel vault 3.5m high. It is slightly asymmetrical in section, springing from the west wall at a lower level than the east wall. The southern part of the east wall is 1.15m thick, as opposed to the 0.9m of the west wall.
At first floor level the east wall is relatively recent, but the west wall, 1.1m thick, is of old masonry. The only old features are the jamb of a blocked opening 0.94m north of the door and 4m beyond this a blocked square headed opening which appears to have been a fireplace.
The building is not straightforward to interpret. An Elizabethan drawing of Castle Heaton appears to show a quadrangular castle in a ruinous condition. The present building is much more like a strong house in character and may be of c.1600, although the difference in masonry and wall thickness between east and west walls suggests that it incorporates older fabric, possibly the curtain wall of the medieval castle, on the west. Further complexities are hinted at, however, by the blocked windows in the east wall, which are difficult to relate to the position of the vault. The building needs a more detailed investigation than this survey allows. Slight earthwork indications suggest that the courtyard of the castle with a further range of buildings to the east, directly at the head of the steep valley side. (6)
Monitoring of four test pits in November 2014 was carried out in association with works to establish the cause of the vaulted building's outward lean. The test pits were excavated along the building's eastern face and showed fragmentary remains of a probable earlier building survived as a truncated wall in Test Pit 1; this may represent an element of the medieval castle. Test Pit 2 revealed evidence of significant stratigraphic deposits extending 0.6m below ground level and pre-dated the cutting of the foundation trench of the vaulted building. No significant archaeological deposits were seen in Test Pits 3 and 4. Evidence of the foundations of the vaulted building and its buttresses was seen in all four test pits. (7)
The vaulted building incorporates what are though to to be the only standing remains of the former 14th century quadrangular Heaton Castle, traditionally attributed to Sir Thomas Grey, that once stood on the site. The surviving medieval fabric appears to be restricted to elements of the former south-west curtain wall of the castle and includes a small turret, rampart and buttress; the rest of the building, landscape and documentary evidence suggest that the remainder of the castle stood to the east, north and south. The castle was brought to ruin by James IV's Scottish army in 1496 and evidently never repaired or brought back into full use.
The present building is more like a bastle or stronghold than a castle. It has a long ground-floor tunnel-vault which appears to butt against the earlier south-west wall of the former castle wall with what seems to be a former dwelling above. Whether the vault originated in the latter days of the castle's operational life ' set alongside the exterior curtain wall to provide either a cool, dry store, or secure stable ' or was built following the ruination of the castle, is unclear. However, the latter explanation is more likely and it
may have been created to provide the tenant farmer of Heaton with a secure byre for his livestock and a defensible dwelling, or refuge above when border reiving was at its height (a bastle). At nearly 27m long this example is unusually large but similarly unusual versions are known elsewhere in Northumberland ' at Akeld and at Pressen. In the late 18th and 19th centuries a certain
amount of remodelling and reconstruction appears to have taken place, particularly of the first floor which was converted into a granary while the ground floor continued to be used as a stable or byre. In the late 19th century a further single-storeyed cow shed or stable, still extant, was added to the north-west end. More recent changes to the building have included minor repairs, the re-flooring of the upper level and re-roofing.
The building measures about 26.9m by 71.6m externally and 25m by 5.2m internally with a tunnel-vaulted ground-floor chamber and single open room above. It is not a typical bastle because of its great length. Most of the building probably dates from the 16th century, but it does contain earlier fabric thought to be part of the 14th century former Heaton Castle. Alterations were made in the late 18th and/or early 19th century, including the addition of an extension to the north-west elevation, a new external stair and the reconstruction and re-roofing of the first floor.
The landscape associated with the caslte has had little previous investigation. The vaulted building sits in the south-east corner of a fairly level plateau overlooking the River Till. This relatively flat area probably required little in the way of deliberate landscaping in preparation for the castle's construction. The changes to the surroundings of the vaulted building through adapation and devleopment appears to have removed or obscured all physical evidence of the precise position, orientation and layout of the castle's original quadrangular plan. (8)
Remedial works were carried out in 2015 on the unstable east wall. Works included the excavation of trenches to take foundations for two new buttresses against the east face of the wall, into which a concrete slab set on piles would be inserted and a masonry superstructure constructed. During excavation of the northern foundation (Trench A) the below-ground remains of an existing buttress were revealed the foundation butted the wall and was not bonded to it. At the south end of the trench a shallow pit or hollow was observed which pre-dated the east wall of the building and ran below it. Removal of the foundation showed the re-use of a number of worked building stones, two with mouldings; and one sherd of medieval pottery was recovered from below the foundation of the east wall. Trench B revealed no archaeological deposits, although the profile of a negative feature was seen in sections; its contents suggested it had been excavated in fairly recent times.
Archaeological monitoring has further demonstrated that the vaulted building is likely to be of post-medieval date. Evidence (albeit limited) includes the fragment of medieval pottery located in a deposit pre-dating the building, and re-used stones in the foundation of the east wall, including two moulded pieces. (9)
According to Cathcart King Heaton Castle was founded in 1415 and was useless by 1550. It was of a quadrangular type. (10a)
The Eton family (later Hetons) were tenants of the Bishop of Durham in this part of Norhamshire. They had a strong house on this site before the site was sold to Thomas Grey in 1328. Shortly afterwards, Grey knocked the house down and built a very strong, square complex including a keep and a great hold called the Lion's Tower, all contained within a wall with turrets at its four corners and a southern entrance. In 1398, a later Thomas Grey exchanged Heton with the Neville's Castle at Wark. Heton was sacked by King James IV in 1496 and again in 1513, leaving it a virtual ruin. When the Greys obtained legal ownership again in 1559, they had little incentive to repair the buildings, they being ruinous. (10b)
In 2014 English Heritage's Assessment Team (North) carried out an architectural investigation (Level 3) of the vaulted building at Castle Heaton and a detailed earthwork survey (Level 3) of adjacent land to the north and east. (10c-d)
General association with HER 27580 (dovecote to north-east). (10)
N2338
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1955; A S Phillips
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1967; D King
WATCHING BRIEF, Vaulted building at Castle Heaton Farm 2014; Alan Williams Archaeology
ANALYTICAL BUILDINGS RECORD (LEVEL 3), Castle Heaton, Cornhill-on-Tweed 2014; English Heritage
WATCHING BRIEF, Vaulted Building at Castle Heaton Farm 2015; Alan Williams Archaeology
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1967; D King
WATCHING BRIEF, Vaulted building at Castle Heaton Farm 2014; Alan Williams Archaeology
ANALYTICAL BUILDINGS RECORD (LEVEL 3), Castle Heaton, Cornhill-on-Tweed 2014; English Heritage
WATCHING BRIEF, Vaulted Building at Castle Heaton Farm 2015; Alan Williams Archaeology
Disclaimer -
Please note that this information has been compiled from a number of different sources. Durham County Council and Northumberland County Council can accept no responsibility for any inaccuracy contained therein. If you wish to use/copy any of the images, please ensure that you read the Copyright information provided.