View of Dally Castle. Photo by Northumberland County Council.


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

Dally Castle was probably built by David Linsey and is referred to in a medieval document dating to 1237. It was described then as having very thick walls and being in the form of a tower. A document of 1326 shows that the building had been burnt down by the Scots. It was repaired and lived in by the 17th century but had again fallen into ruins by the 18th century. During the 19th century the castle was partly excavated and a number of stone columns were found as well as a helmet and a sword. More recently the ruins of the castle have been consolidated and the walls now stand about 1.8m high. The original building at Dally was a hall house, possibly the earliest of its type to survive in the county. This was altered in the late 13th and early 14 centuries to become a tower house. Around the two sides of the castle which are not protected by steep natural slopes, a large ditch was dug, 25m wide and 4.5m deep. A few metres east of the castle are the foundations of another building thought to have been a chapel. This is a Scheduled Monument and Grade I Listed Building protected by law.