Bellingham Castle

In the civil parish of Bellingham.
In the historic county of Northumberland (Modern Authority of Northumberland, 1974 county of Northumberland).

Bellingham Castle was probably an early C12 Motte and Bailey castle, built by the Bellingham family. All traces of the stone castle had disappeared by the late C13 leaving only the mound. (Jackson writes towerhouse site) First mentioned 1263. A mound at the east end of Bellingham is all that remains of the former motte and bailey castle. It was probably built in C12 by the Bellingham family and is likely to have been replaced by a stone castle in C13. The existence of a castle here is suggested by documentary evidence which reports that William de Bellingham, sheriff of Tynedale and forester of Tynedale under the king of Scotland, had his seat at Bellingham. The mound is topped by a smaller mound and, because the top of this feature is quite small, doubt has been expressed about the form of the castle if it was situated here; it has also been suggested that the whole mound is a natural feature.

This site has been described as a;
Timber Castle
Tower House
Masonry Castle.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Possible.
Cropmarks/slight earthworks remains.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is NY84088328

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; 17123

County Sites and Monuments Record number; N7979

• Web site links
  • http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_north/80/bellinghamcastle.htm
    http://www.keystothepast.info/durhamcc/K2P.nsf/K2PDetail?readform&PRN=N7979
• Books
  • Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Keepdate Publishing) p284-6
    Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern) p114 [slight]
    Jackson, M.J.,1992, Castles of Northumbria (Carlise) p137
    Rowland, T.H., 1987 [reprint1994], Medieval Castles, Towers, Peles and Bastles of Northumberland (Sandhill Press) p7, 41
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p327
    Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p57
    Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p61
    Dodds, Madeleine Hope (ed), 1940, Northumberland County History (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Vol15 p234
    Bulmer, 1877. Directory of Northumberland p564
    Hartshorne, C.H., 1858. Feudal and military antiquities of Northumberland and the Scottish borders (London) p236
    Mackenzie, E., 1825. A historical and descriptive view of the county of Northumberland: and of the town and county of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, with Berwick upon Tweed, and other celebrated places on the Scottish border Vol2 (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p250
    Hodgson, J. and Laird, F., 1813, Beauties of England and Wales; Northumberland Vol12 p139
• Journal Articles
  • Hunter Blair, C.H., 1944, 'The Early Castles of Northumberland' Archaeologia Aeliana [ser4] Vol22 p162
    1858, Archaeologia Aeliana Vol3 p151