Edlingham Castle

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

The first Castle dates to around 1295 when the land was sold by Walter de Edlingham to one William de Felton who built fortified hall here on the site of Edlingham's previous moated manor house. His son, also William, inherited the hall in 1328 and began to turn the hall into a Castle proper, adding a gatehouse, a tower which is to all intents and purposes a small keep, and a curtain wall. The last de Felton, John II, died in 1396 and the Castle passed to the Swinburnes who remodelled it along the "fortified manor house" lines more popular by that stage. Only the base of the curtain wall and gatehouse remain standing. The tower was built in the mid to late C14. It was built adjacent to the earlier hall to provide private accommodation for the owner and his family. Because of its role in providing such private living space it is known as a 'solar' tower. The three-storeyed tower's north and west walls survive almost to their full height. Excavated 1978-82 by G J Fairclough.

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.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This site is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 236451)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is NU11610920

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; 6633

County Sites and Monuments Record number; N4221

• Web site links
  • http://www.castlexplorer.co.uk/england/edlingham/edlingham.php
    http://britannia.com/tours/coquetdale/edlingham.html
    http://www.keystothepast.info/durhamcc/K2P.nsf/K2PDetail?readform&PRN=N4221
    http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/conProperty.126
• Books
  • Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Keepdate Publishing)
    Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern) p48-9
    Emery, Anthony, 1996, Greater Medieval Houses Vol1 (Cambridge) p88-90
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p183
    Jackson, M.J.,1992, Castles of Northumbria (Carlise) p57-9 [plan]
    Rowland, T.H., 1987 [reprint1994], Medieval Castles, Towers, Peles and Bastles of Northumberland (Sandhill Press) p56-8
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p332
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p227
    Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p142-4
    Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p96
    Pevsner, N., 1957, The Buildings of England: Northumberland (London, Penguin) p143-4
    Hugill, R.,1939, Borderland Castles and Peles [1970 Reprint by Frank Graham] p96-7
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Hodgson, John Crawford (ed), 1904, Northumberland County History (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Vol7 p106-27
    Tomlinson, W.W., 1897, Comprehensive Guide to Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p395-6
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol2 p386
    Bates, C.J., 1891, Border Holds of Northumberland (London and Newcastle: Andrew Reid) p12, 14
    Hodgson, J. and Laird, F., 1813, Beauties of England and Wales; Northumberland Vol12 p212
• Journal Articles
  • Fairclough, G., 1992, Antiquity Vol66 p357-64
    Fairclough, G., 1984, ‘Edlingham castle, Northumberland: an interim account of excavations, 1978–82' Transactions of the Ancient Monuments Society (new ser) Vol28 p40–60
    Youngs, S.M., Clark, J. and Barry, T.B., 1983. ‘Medieval Britain in 1982' Medieval Archaeology Vol27 p200
    Fairclough, G., 1982, ‘Edlingham Castle: the military and domestic development of a Northumbrian, manor. Excavations 1978-80: interim report' Château Gaillard Vol9-10 p373-87
    Fairclough, G., 1982. CBA Group 3 Newsbulletin [ser2] Vol16 p6-9
    Youngs, S.M. and Clark, J., 1982, ‘Medieval Britain in 1981' Medieval Archaeology Vol26 p201
    Youngs, S.M. and Clark, J., 1981, ‘Medieval Britain in 1980' Medieval Archaeology Vol25 p201-2
    Webster, L.E. and Cherry, J., 1980, ‘Medieval Britain in 1979' Medieval Archaeology Vol24 p247 and 249
    Fairclough, G., 1979-80. ‘Edlingham Castle’ CBA Group 3 Newsbulletin [ser2] p135-6
    Webster, L.E. and Cherry, J., 1979, ‘Medieval Britain in 1978' Medieval Archaeology Vol23 p260-1
    Fairclough, G., 1978. CBA Group 3 Newsbulletin [ser2] Vol6 p10
    Hadcock, R.N., 1939, 'Map of Mediaeval Northum and Durham' Archaeologia Aeliana [ser4] Vol16 p166
    1926-8, History of the Berwickshire Naturalists Club Vol26 p28-9
    Hodgson, J.C., 1916, 'List of Ruined Towers, Chapels, etc., in Northumberland; compiled about 1715 by John Warburton, Somerset Herald, aided by John Horsley' Archaeologia Aeliana [ser3] Vol13 p7
    1912-15, History of the Berwickshire Naturalists Club Vol22 p15-9
    1914, Publications of the Surtees Society Vol124 p223
    1905, Publications of the Surtees Society Vol111 p350-1
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • 1415 list of Northumberland Castles [Click here]
• Other sources and unpublished works (Theses, in-house reports and other such)
  • Ryder, P.F., 1995. Towers and Bastles in Northumberland Part 1 Alnwick District p17-19