CORNHILL CASTLE

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Earthwork remains of a probable motte and bailey slighted in 1385 and not reoccupied. An extensive RCHME survey states that nothing survives of the structure of the castle which formerly occupied a spur overlooking the River Tweed though there are a few earthworks remaining. Scheduled.

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[NT 85434049] Cornhill Castle [GT] Site of [T.I.] (1)

The first reference to a tower at Cornhill, is in 1385 when it was taken and demolished by the Scots. A survey of 1541 describes the tower as having been newly repaired and standing on the bank of the Tweed. In 1561 it is mentioned as having a barmkin. (2)

Cornhill Castle- only traces of earthworks survive. (3)

Scheduled. (4)

The remains consist of a natural promontory defended on the north east and north west sides by steep natural slopes, and on the South east and South West by artificial ditches with a causewayed entrance at the South angle. There are no structural remains.
Surveyed at 1:2500. (5)

Nothing survives of the structure of Cornhill Castle which formerly occupied a spur overlooking the River Tweed at NT 8543 4049. The earthwork remains were surveyed at 1:1000 scale in 1991 by RCHME; the original plan and archive account giving fuller details of the history and present state of the remains is in the NMR. Historical evidence is mainly confined to references to its slighting and subsequent re-building during cross-border conflicts between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, and therefore the date and form of its original construction cannot be determined. It is first mentioned in 1335 when it was taken and demolished by the Earl of Fife (6a-b).
The site is formed by the precipitous river-cliff above the River Tweed, here 21m high, and the steep valley of an un-named tributary winding around the E and N sides. It is isolated on the S side by a dry ditch, crossed by an entrance causeway, connecting the stream gulley with the river-cliff to enclose a sub-rectangular area 42m NE-SW by 25m transversely. To the E of the causeway, the ditch is well-formed and achieves a maximum depth of 3.3m; here an existing gulley may have been utilised and partly re-cut. On the W side of the causeway it is up to 3.1m deep, but it has been mutilated, particularly at the entrance, where the ground slopes gently from the causeway into the base of the ditch. There is no trace whatsoever of a rampart inside or outside the ditch. A slight scarp, 0.15m in maximum height, can be traced close to the SE edge of the enclosure; apart from this and a low pile of stones, none of which appear to have been worked, the interior is featureless. The demolition of the tower and barmkin, last seen by Hutchinson about 1794 (6c), has been comprehensive. The whole site including the river escarpment and the stream gulley has been planted with deciduous trees; a number of these were felled in 1991, causing some damage. (6)

NT 855 405. Cornhill Castle. Scheduled No ND/330. (7)

Main events in the Castle's History described by Cathcart King. (8)

Description and history. Dodds says that the tower and barmkin were built in 1382 half a mile to the South-East in Cornhill village to guard a new ford across the river. (9)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" 1924

( 2) Archaeologia Aeliana : or miscellaneous tracts relating to antiquity

C J Bates 14, 1891 Page(s)11-12,17,29-30,53,72,80

( 3) by John Grundy et al 1992 Northumberland

The buildings of England 1992 Page(s)133

( 4) Ministry of Public Building and Works 1965 Ancient monuments in England and Wales : a list prepared by the Ministry of Public Building and Works, corrected to 31st December 1963

Page(s)83

( 5) Field Investigators Comments

F1 DK 31-JAN-67

( 6) Field Investigators Comments

Keith Blood and Colin Lofthouse/20-DEC-1991/RCHME: Cornhill Castle Survey.

( 6a) General reference

Raine J. 1852. The History and Antiquities of North Durham, 321

( 6b) General reference

Bates CJ. 1891. The Border Holds of Northumberland, I, 11-12

( 6c) General reference

Hutchinson W. 1794. The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham, III

( 7) English Heritage 1995 County list of Scheduled Monuments : March 1994

Page(s)18

(8) David J Cathcart King 1983 Castellarium anglicanum : an index and bibliography of the castles in England, Wales and the Islands. Volume II : Norfolk-Yorkshire and the islands

Page(s)347

(9) Dodds, JF 1999 Bastions and Belligerents: Medieval Strongholds in Northumberland

Page(s)33-4

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