Warkworth Castle. Photo by Northumberland County Council.


Warkworth Castle (Copyright © Don Brownlow)

[NU 2471 0576] Warkworth Castle. Keep. (1)

See Ministry of Works Guide. (2)

Condition unchanged. (3)

Warkworth Castle, Grade I listed building. See Ministry of Public Building and Works guide for plan and full description. Scheduled Ancient Monument. First built in stone c.1139, but little remains of that date. Gatehouse, Great Hall, Carrickfergus and West Postern Towers all probably c.1200. Grey Mare's Tail Tower later 13th century, and Chapel early 14th century. The Keep or Tower House, the remodelled Hall, the Kitchen and the Collegiate Church all belong to the beginning of the 15th century. Parts of the interior of the Keep were restored by Salvin in 1853-8. (4)

Excavated between 1924-1931 and in 1966. (5)

Warkworth Castle. Lies in tactically good position. In early 12th century motte and bailey castle was constructed, part of the earthworks still remain. Elaborate and complicated stone castle built late. Between 1191-1214 the Carrickfergus Tower and domestic buildings along the west wall were built. In 1327 the castle was besieged twice by the Scots; for a short while it was a royal fortress. In 1332 granted to 2nd Lord Percy of Alnwick. Building periods in 14th century and late 14th/early 15th century. (6)

Chapel in Warkworth Castle had an upper and lower chapel with common raised altar in front. (7)

Castle destroyed by William the Lion when he invaded Northumberland. (8)

Discoveries made during works ending in 1931. At the gatehouse the moat has been excavated showing approaches - not coeval with gatehouse. No trace of drawbridge. Wooden bridge erected. The windows inserted in gatehouse for porter's lodge have been replaced by arrow slits; also removed was the partition and staircase inside the lodge. Lower steps replaced in original position.
Montagu Tower cleared of rubbish. Well House foundations uncovered - building measured 16ft 6ins by 19ft 6ins. The well was deepened from 27ft to 60ft deep, still with no sign of the bottom; below 43ft it was cut from rock, above constructed of masonry.
Vaults under the college cleared of rubbish, some cannon balls found. Foundations of 'The Great Stable' exposed. Modern foundations between the stable and Montagu Tower (Gardner's Chamber) removed. Brewhouse exposed. Other modern walls have been removed and turfed over.
Small carving of Crucifixion and 12 apostles in arrowslit of 'The Grey Mare's Tail' tower. (9)

Warkworth Castle. The collegiate church in the bailey was never completed. Church, keep, kitchen and hall are late 14th or early 15th century. Remains of an old arch suggest an older keep stood on the site. Keep is c.65ft square with corners cut off. At entrance was a portcullis and trapdoors into a pit 16ft deep. (10)

Warkworth first recorded after Norman Conquest as held by Earl Robert de Mowbray or one of his vassals. In 1139 earldom granted to Henry, son of David I of Scotland and then to his son, William the Lion. 1157 Malcolm gave up the earldom to Henry II. Castle mentioned in 1158. Castle fell to the Scots in 1173.
Major remodelling by Henry, third Lord Percy (1368-1408). Improvements continued through 15th and 16th centuries. Castle was habitable almost to the end of 16th century. Apogee in mid-15th century. Grandiose scheme for collegiate foundation in the bailey was abandoned. Little documentation to date building episodes. The tower house on the motte is unique to Warkworth, the lion on the face of the tower facing Scotland possibly derives from French parallels (eg Pierrefonds, La Ferte Milon). Smallness of the bailey and accommodation within, suggests accommodation for troops etc, would have been in the town or on the level ground to the south. (11)

Two bronze gilt objects found in the moat of Warkworth Castle during excavation by HM Office of Works. Suggested they are part of 15th century costume. [horse harness?] (12)

A feature of later English castles is the building of a massive rectangular tower; such 15th century tower houses were not imitations of Norman keeps, but were up-to-date development of domestic architecture - specialised form of solar. Warkworth is unique because the tower stands alone from the older part of the castle forming a complete isolated fortified house in itself.
A length of apparently mid-12th century wall remains on the east side of the curtain wall. [Detailed description of castle development]. Tower possibly built c.1377-1404. Percy lion carved in high relief.
College first mentioned in 1533, origins obscure. Design seems to have been abandoned - foundations of cruciform church. Circumstances unfavourable to completion of college in 15th and 16th centuries. (13)

Donjon keep was built for the special needs of the time, not a reversion to obsolete ideas. [Discussion of parallels suggesting development of Warkworth donjon.] Suggests connection with Durham Castle and proposes John Lewyn (or Lewen), Bishop Hatfield's master mason, as the architect of Warkworth donjon. (14)

Castle first laid out in its present form by Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland, in the later 11th century. [Brief description of castle and towers, and of keep]. (15)

[Brief description]. (16)

Appears to have fallen into decay c.1567. In 1608 the lead was removed from the roof of the towers. In 1672 materials used from the castle by Joseph Clarke to build his house at Chenton. Lion Tower built c.1461-1489. (17)

Warkworth: palisades of rectangular bailey replaced by stone walls. (18)

NU 2471 0575. Warkworth Castle motte and bailey castle, tower keep castle and collegiate church. Scheduled RSM No 23234. The monument comprises the early 12th century motte and bailey castle, the mid 12th to 16th century tower keep castle, and the 14th century collegiate church. To the N of castle, occupying the loop of the river, is the town of Warkworth which developed with the castle as one of the planned boroughs of the Middle Ages. Further remains, preserving the relationship between the castle and borough, will survive in this area. The motte stands at the S end of the main street with the bailey occupying a levelled and scarped area to the S that is roughly triangular in plan with a diameter of c.100m, reduced to c.80m in the mid-12th century with the construction of a stone curtain wall. A section of the E curtain and the S and W walls of the contemporary solar are the only upstanding remains of this earliest castle. In the late 12th or early 13th century the timber keep was replaced by the first masonry tower keep. Only the foundations of this structure survive, the upstanding remains being those of its early 15th century replacement. The early 15th century keep is unroofed but largely complete, its well preserved exterior being due to its continued upkeep through the 15th and 16th centuries and its partial restoration between 1853 and 58 by the Fourth Duke of Northumberland.

To the S of the keep are the foundations of an early 15th century church which extends the full width of the bailey and was intended as part of a college of secular canons endowed by the first Percy earl of Northumberland. It appears, however, that the upper part of the church was never built. Vaulted cellars under the E arm and N transept remained in use as stores and survive together with the ground plan of the church and a passage built to connect the bailey to the S with the area to the N.

The first stone castle is believed to have been built by Henry, son of King David I of Scotland, who was created Earl of Northumberland in 1139. It is not known who was responsible for the earlier motte and bailey castle. Throughout the 13th and early 14th centuries the castle continued in the hands of the descendents of Roger fitzRichard who, from 1310 took the name Clavering after their estates in Essex. No documentary evidence exists for the castle during the late 14th or early 15th centuries, though it was during this period that the present keep was built and collegiate church begun. The castle was reported in good repair in 1538 and from then until 1557 it became the residence of two successive royal officials. It was captured and occupied by the Scots between 1644 and 45 and by soldiers of the Commonwealth in 1648. In 1672 any remaining building materials were removed by John Clarke for the construction of his house at Chirton. The castle remained untended until the mid-19th century, when the fourth Duke of Northumberland restored part of the keep and carried out repairs to the rest of the castle to prevent its further decay. The castle has been in State care since 1922 and is also a Grade I Listed Building. (Extract from complete text). (19)

Detailed discussion of the dating of the donjon. (20)

A watching brief was carried out by Tyne and Wear Museums in March 1999, on a network of drainage trenches in the west portion of the castle car park. In the north and extreme west of the area the ground level of the car park had been levelled with dumps of black soil (formerly ridge and furrow). In the south-west area, two trenches revealed concentrations of sand stone slabs and fragments, associated with possible archaeolgoical deposits, although no discernable pattern was visible. Within the matrix of this stone deposit a sherd of green glaze pot was recovered.
A trench was hand excavated to a depth of 0.75m the rear of the Keep for a water main fed through the garderobe. This revealed masonry associated with either the Keep or the Garderobe: a strongly mortared rough sandstone wall or foundation with an offset course at the base. A cut was noted against the stonework, the fill of which was filled with a notable concentration of charcoal inclusions. No finds were recovered. (21)

Additional bibliography and details of previous archaeological work as below. In the 1850s the duke of Northumberland financed excavations which revealed the remains of the collegiate church.
Between 1891 and 1899, Mr G Reavell carried out some excavations and uncovered the stable against the east curtain and the stair at the junction of the south curtain and the Montagu Tower. In addition, it seems likely that he excavated the bases of the buttresses against the outer face and the remains of buildings on the inside of the south curtain.
In 1998 Tyne and Wear Museums excavated eight foundation trenches in the outer bailey for a new visitor centre. Three trenches contained stratified archaeological deposits. A trench cut for a septic tank revealed the apparent original profile of the medieval moat. (22)

The southern defences of the castle were partly excavated by B Harbottle in April 1966 on behalf of the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works. The excavations were located immediately east of the gatehouse. Its aim was to determine the nature of the mound against the inner face of the curtain and to discover the original profile of the moat. The footings of the curtain and its relationship with an internal north-south wall were also examined.
The foundations of two walls were found beneath the standing curtain. One was the base of the first (medieval) curtain; the other is likely to be the second curtain of the 16th century date. (23)

Watching brief by Tyne and Wear Museums in 2001 on the site of the former ticket office provided information about this area defined by structures thought to date from 1191-1214. A possible 12th century phase was revealed in the form of wall footings which pre-date the surrounding east and north walls. (24)

A pair ot timber window lintels from the Grey Mare's Tail tower on the eastern side of Warkworth Castle were examined in dendrochronological studies by Engtlish Heritage during 2006. These revealed no cross-matching between them and they could not be individually dated. It is was therefore impossible to identify if these were original timbers relating to the early 14th century construction of the tower or a later phase. A series of eight contiguous decadal samples was later obtained from one of the lintels for radiocarbon dating which, by wiggle-matching, suggests that this timber was felled in the early 14th century and is a timber from the first phase of construction. (25)

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken by AD Archaeology during the renewal of an electricity service to the north of the gatehouse at Warkworth Castle in March 2015. The majority of the trench was located within the line of a pre-existing service trench. In the section of the trench across the north face of the gatehouse, the excavation did not exceed the depth of a mixed clay deposit of likely pre-modern date which was overlain by modern gravels. Two sandstone blocks forming a vertical face were recorded immediately outside the guardroom of the western tower which may represent part of the entrance into the medieval structure. The new cable was laid in an existing service trench in this area to avoid archaeological remains. To the east of the gatehouse, the new cable was laid in an area which had been subject to previous disturbance during the construction of the ticket office. (26)

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken by AD Archaeology Ltd. During the upgrading of footpaths in the grounds of Warkworth Castle. The works consisted of repairing and upgrading paths to the west and south-west of Warkworth Castle. The construction of a short length of steps involved the excavation of shallow trenches. The trenches were 0.2m in depth and did not exceed the depth of topsoil. Revetment boards were laid adjacent to 2 portions of the footpath and held in place by wooden pegs hammered into the ground. No archaeological features or deposits were revealed or disturbed during the works. (27)

Geophysical surveys in 2020 in the bailey and on land immediately north and east of the bailey, revealed probable wall remains, including the footings of a very substantial and well-defined wall aligned east-west in the outer ward of the bailey; this is thought likely to have been an early feature of the castle. Other potential walls were located elsewhere in the bailey, on the motte next to the keep and on the bailey platform east of the curtain wall. Other anomalies suggest areas of rubble which could also contain wall footings. A probable unmetalled track was detected outside the east bailey wall heading north from the east postern. Two drains were detected associated with the well and other drains were found on the bailey platform east of the curtain wall. (28)

Warkworth Castle. The Donjon. Grade I. (29a)

Additional reference. (29b)

Main events of the castle's history described. (29c-d)

Additional reference with brief summary of the Castle and visitor information current 2009/10 (29e)

The English Heritage Guidebook published in 2006 provides a "tour" of the salient features of the castle and a history of its use and about the influential Percy family associated with it. It notes that there is a degree of uncetainty about when the first stone castle was built, although it has traditionally been thought that this was constructed initially circa 1139 it might have been built in the 1150s. A phase plan identifies standing remains of 1199-1213, 1249-1310, the late 14th century ( including the "Great Tower " and the 15th century (inluding the collegiate church possibly from the 1480s a chapel and the Great Hall) with more minor alterations in the 16th century and resoration in the 19th century. (29f)

General association with HER 5405. (29)