Widdrington Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Widdringtons; Castrum de Wodryngton; Turris de Wodryngton; Withrington; Woderington: Widringdun

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

Site of a medieval fortified manor house and castle with later additions, demolished after 1772. The visible remains now comprise an earthen mound on which the house once stood. An excavation carried out in 1954 revealed traces of a possible garden to the south of the mound. Gerard Widdrington was granted a licence to crenellate in 1341.

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

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1341 Sept 10.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is NZ25579576

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; 25454

County Sites and Monuments Record number; N11883

• Web site links
  • http://www.keystothepast.info/durhamcc/K2P.nsf/K2PDetail?readform&PRN=N11883
• Books
  • Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Keepdate Publishing) p226-8
    Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern) p111
    Emery, Anthony, 1996, Greater Medieval Houses Vol1 (Cambridge) p153-4
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p200 [slight]
    Jackson, M.J.,1992, Castles of Northumbria (Carlise) p132-3
    Rowland, T.H., 1987 [reprint1994], Medieval Castles, Towers, Peles and Bastles of Northumberland (Sandhill Press) p63
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p355
    Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p353-5
    Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p173-4
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Tomlinson, W.W., 1897, Comprehensive Guide to Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p282-4
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol2 p431-2
    Bates, C.J., 1891, Border Holds of Northumberland (London and Newcastle: Andrew Reid) p9, 19
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p413
    Hodgson, J.C., 1832, History of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) pt2 Vol2 p241-6
    Hodgson, J. and Laird, F., 1813, Beauties of England and Wales; Northumberland Vol12 p188-9
    Buck, Samuel and Nathenial, 1774, Buck’s Antiquities (London) Vol1 p224
• Journal Articles
  • Bibby, J.R. 1955. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle [ser5] Vol1 p336-42
    Hunter Blair, C.H. and Honeyman, C.L., 1938-46, History of the Berwickshire Naturalist Club Vol30 p129-41
    Hadcock, R.N., 1939, 'Map of Mediaeval Northum and Durham' Archaeologia Aeliana [ser4] Vol16 p148-218
    1903. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle Vol1 p82
    1900, Archaeologia Aeliana Vol22 p15-17
    1858, Archaeologia Aeliana Vol3 p189-96
• 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]
    Calendar of Patent Rolls (1340-43) p289
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/nhumbeng.html#nhumb21]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p343
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol5 p63-4