Streatlam Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Stainton; Stretlam; Newcastle

In the civil parish of Streatlam And Stainton.
In the historic county of Durham; County Palatinate of (Modern Authority of Durham, 1974 county of County Durham).

Streatlam Castle, "Newcastle" in some records, existed in the late C13. It was rebuilt in C15 and again rebuilt, on the old foundations, between 1718 and the mid-C19. Now a complete ruin. Some walls, particularly at west end, have a very thick core of rubble masonry but there are no other traces of antiquity. Streatlam was the seat of the Bowes family, and later the Bowes-Lyon, Earls of Strathmore, and fronted an older building rebuilt by Sir William Bowes around 1450. The building was gutted in 1927 and demolished in 1959 as part of a Territorial Army exercise.

This site has been described as a;
Masonry Castle.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Masonry ruins/remnants remains.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is NZ08331986

Modern Map from Good for landscape form and features	Modern Map from Good for general location
Air Photo from	1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 19836

County Sites and Monuments Record number; D1948

• Web site links
  • http://www.keystothepast.info/durhamcc/K2P.nsf/K2PDetail?readform&PRN=D1948
• Books
  • Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles and Tower Houses of County Durham (Malvern) p57
    Jackson, M.J., 1996, Castles of Durham and Cleveland (Carlise) p58-61
    Emery, Anthony, 1996, Greater Medieval Houses Vol1 (Cambridge) p138-40
    Meadows, P. and Waterson, E. 1993. Lost Houses of County Durham (Durham) p6-8
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p137
    Pevsner, Nikolaus (revised by Elizabeth Williamson), 1983, Buildings of England: County Durham (Harmondsworth) p446
    Pevsner, N., 1953. Buildings of England: County Durham (London) p224-5
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Leighton, 1910, in Memories of Old Durham (London) p213-4
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol2 p354-6
    Whellan, F., 1894 (2edn), History, Topography and Directory of the County of Durham p548
    Boyle, J.R., 1892, Comprehensive Guide to the County of Durham (Newcastle) p725
    Brayley, E. and Britton, J., 1803, Beauties of England and Wales; Durham Vol5 p233
    Hutchinson, Wm, 1785-94, The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham Vol3 (Durham) p255
• Journal Articles
  • Tipping, H.A., 1915 Dec, Country Life p836-43
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p156
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol2 p9