View of Dally Castle. Photo by Northumberland County Council.


Remains of Dally Castle, Greystead. Photo by Northumberland County Council.

(NY 7748 8439). Dally Castle (Remains of). (1)

In 1237 Hugh Bolbec complained to Henry III that Sir David Lindsey was building a strong house in the form of a tower. The place at which it was being built is not named and the tower has been identified with Dally Castle although it may have been at Chirdon (HER 7046).
The castle was at first a simple oblong building dating from the reign of John or his successor. Later in the 13th century a north west corner turret and south wing was added and the loopholes in the ground floor built up.
Later a north east turret was added, the south west corner strengthened and an enclosure made on the south scarp of the castle hill (Plan shows the three phases of building as: early 13th century, 13th century, and 14th century or later).
The building continued in habitation until the 16th century or later but had become a ruin before Camden visited it in the reign of James I. Armstrong's Map (1769) shows it as a ruin and apparently in the 18th century the wall collapsed and all visible and accessible stones were removed to help build Dally Mill. In 1888 Mr W L Charlton removed enough of the debris to reveal the remains but no proper record was kept of his finds.
The castle stands on the eastern part of a ridge or 'kaim' isolated by cutting a gap through it. A smaller notch cuts off the extreme eastern part of the ridge and the castle stands on the summit of the ridge with its western end overlooking the larger ditch. There are also traces of masonry on the low mound east of the eastern ditch.
The castle proper is in two portions. First a building of about 30' x 15' east of the main building and not on the same orientation. Of uncertain date, it may have been a barn or even a chapel. Secondly an oblong block 56'6" x 26'8" internally with walls 5'9" to 6'0" thick, with turrets on its two northern corners and a larger turret or wing on the south. The south wing has disappeared except for short lengths of walls attached to the main walls. (Architectural description). (2)

There is little doubt that the tower built by David De Lindesey, mentioned as building in 1237 is Dala (Dallie 1663, Dale 1769) Castle. (3)

The finds made during the excavation in 1888 by Mr W L S Charlton included a helmet and a sword end. The stonework tallies exactly with the date - 1237 - of the tower built by David de Lyndesey. (4)

Situation, description and plan in authority 2 correct.
The masonry is of well dressed sandstone blocks in an excellent state of preservation. Within the main building, and lying among other loose stones on the ground, may be seen two pillar bases and several ornamental stones. The purpose or date of the minor buildings to the south east of the main block could not be ascertained.
An ample water supply is available in the Chirdon Burn 80m to the south-east.
Captain W H Charlton of Hesleyside (grand-son of Mr W L S Charlton, Authority 4) was interviewed, but had no knowledge of the present location of the finds made during the excavation of 1888. (5)

Published earthworks (25 inch) revised. (6)

Grade I Dally Castle (or Daley Castle). Early 13th century, extended and altered late 13th and 14th centuries. A valuable piece of mediaeval masonry. Plan and details in N.C.H. Vol 15. (7)

The castle consists of a rectangular block 20.9m by 11.8m externally, with walls of sandstone ashlar c.1.8m thick; there have been three fishtail arrow loops regularly spaced in each side wall (except perhaps at the east end of the south wall - see below) and one set centrally in each end. There are double-chamfered plinths on the long walls, but none at the ends.
There are at least two phases of additions; from the first (later 13th century?) comes the square turret or tower at the north west corner, and a pair of buttresses between the loops on the north face; there was also a smaller projection or turret at the south west corner, which in a second phase of alterations was partly reconstructed; at this time another square tower or turret was built on to the north east corner. Later still are two buttresses between the loops on the south, and a wall adjoining the south east corner.
There is no evidence of any original ground floor doorway into the block; the only position that there can have been one is at the east end of the south wall, where there is a ragged gap which may have opened into some sort of adjacent structure. The original fishtail loops have all been carefully blocked up at some period; the best preserved is that in the north end. A later wall cupboard is formed in the blocking of the loop in the east end, whilst that at the west end is partly concealed by a fireplace with a segmental curve to its rear wall and a lintel carried on a pair of projecting corbels, the northern of which remains. The western loop in the south wall has been replaced by a wider window, the sill of which survives, showing two bar holes, and the markings indicating that the jambs were of quarter round section.
At the south end of the west wall, alongside the fireplace, is the base of a chamfered doorway into a small chamber, perhaps a garderobe or the base of a mural stair; there is a similar feature at the diagonally opposite corner, which seems to pre-date the addition of the north east turret or tower.
There are now no visible remains of a series of columns set centrally in the basement, which are thought to have carried a longitudinal beam, or of wall corbels cut to carry a plate 0.1m wide, which in turn supported the ends of transverse joists.
A few metres east of the castle are the grassed over footings of a rectangular building c.9m by 4.6m; this is set east-west, markedly out of line with the castle, and may have been a chapel. Further south east, a ditch cuts off a small mound at the end of the ridge (just above the road); this carries more grassed over footings, apparently of a small structure c.3m square (a dovecote?) with traces of what may have been an enclosing wall.
Dally Castle was a hall house in its first phase, possibly the earliest of its type to survive in Northumberland. (8)

A survey of the remains was carried out in 1996 by HSLS for the National Park Authority ahead of plans for conservation works to the ruins. The survey included analytical mapping of the landscape within which the castle is set, profiles across the ground surface, a plan illustrating the distribution and character of the building stone spread across the site and another illustrating the phasing of the building, and a series of elevations depicting surviving fabric. Discussion of antiquarian observations of the castle. (9)

Scheduled. (10)

A field survey carried out of the remains of the castle as an undergraduate dissertation by E Brook of Newcastle University during August 1990 has recorded the surviving elevations of stonework, as well as carrying out an overall plan of the site. The promontory on which the site lies is approximately 100m in length and 60m in width. It is noticebaly steeper on the northern and western sides. Cuttings on the western and southern sides of the ruins are noted which are probably to be associated with the initial fortifications of the castle site. The ruins of the foundations are of a hall house approximately 8m wide and 17.6m long with a series of three square turrets on the corners. The surviving masonry is mainly of the hall portion with the remains of a fireplace noted. The stonework in general consists of inner rubble core and outer ashlar, though much has been robbed.
The site is of some architectural significance in the survival of a number of features including fine examples, on all sides of the remains, of fish-tailed loophole windows, and sculptured plinths, ornate stones, corbels, jambs and column bases. The various phases of the site can be seen in the surviving masonry and architectural features in the developing of the site from a hall house to that with turrets through differently coloured masonry. (11)

NY 775 844. Dally Castle. Scheduled No ND/174. (12a)

Listed by Cathcart King and Dodds. (12b-c)

Dally Castle. Grade I. Ruined castle. C13 and C14. Squared stone. Rectangular, c.50ft x 30ft with projecting towers at three corners. The walls stand from two feet to about five feet above ground and
more below the surface. Finely-cut chamfered plinth. Several arrow slits and parts of arrow slits remain. They are finely-detailed with rounded jambs and steeply-sloping sills and lintels. (12d)