ETAL CASTLE

ABOUT THIS MONUMENT

+ / -

EH Visitor Information
Related Monuments
Related Text
Investigation History

More Pictures
Modern Map
Old Map
Aerial Photograph

Monument Types
Sources
Thesaurus
Description

DESCRIPTION

+ / -

The monument known as Etal Castle was the second quadrangular castle to be completed in Northumberland, (by 1360) and comprises a tower house, outer enclosure or barmkin, a gatehouse, a corner tower, and the sites of various ancillary buildings which existed within the barmkin, built against the enclosing curtain wall. The earliest element is the tower, built by 1355. This is a rectangular building of four storeys. Externally it measures 15 metres x 10 metres and has walls 2 metres thick. Circa 1341 Edward III granted the lord of Etal licence to crenellate. Almost certainly the tower itself was already crenellated at this time, but the grant meant that its owner now had permission to extend the fortification to include the gatehouse, corner tower and curtain wall whose remains now extend around the edges of the barmkin. Documents indicate that the construction of these features took a minimum of 15 years. The curtain wall appears never to have been particularly strong, being only a little over 1 metre thick in its one remaining standing section, but the gatehouse is a formidable building comprising a two story structure with a central rib-vaulted gate passage, flanked to the fore by twin towers which projected above the battlements of the main building and also forward to cover to approach to the gate. Only the ground floor of the corner tower remains standing, surviving as a high, rib-vaulted chamber measuring 7 metres x 6 metres and incorporating a wooden loft supported by corbels set into the walls. In addition to the tower house and defensive buildings, there would have been various ancillary or service buildings within the barmkin, including, for example, stables, kitchens, quarters for servants and guardsmen, offices, a brewhouse, a bakehouse and numerous others. None survive as standing ruins, but their remains exist as buried features. Scheduled.

PICTURES

+ / -

DETAIL

+ / -

MORE INFORMATION & SOURCES

+ / -

[NT 9251930] Etal Castle [L.B.] Gatehouse [L.B.]. (1)

The castle, which was crenellated in 1341, encloses a roughly, rectangular area, with the keep and a gatehouse at the W & E Angles respectively. A small, vaulted chamber occupies the S. angle, and a few stones indicate the N. angle of the courtyard, or a further tower. The curtain wall stands to the height of the rampart on the S.E. side, but elsewhere only foundations survive. The keep probably preceded, while the gatehouse followed crenellation. Scheduled. [See Illustrations Card]. (2-3)

Correctly described. A small abutment to the keep, and traces atop a slight scarp on the N.W.side (Surveyed at 1:2500) are the only apparent remains of the curtain apart from the section previously noted. See GPs.A055/276/3 & 4 for gatehouse and keep respectively. (4)

Condition unchanged. (5)

Etal Castle, 1341-1368. See plan and description in N.C.H. Vol. XI. A walled enclosure with an imposing C14 gate tower at the diagonally opposite N.W. corner. No doubt there were formerly timber buildings, hall, kitchen, stables, etc., within the castle enclosure, but they have disappeared. In 1541 it was stated that "many necessary houses within the same became ruinous and fallen to the ground". There is a small tower at the S.W. corner, but none at the N.E. and the plan of the curtain wall is curiously irregular. (6)

Etal Castle:Gate-tower,south curtain wall,SW tower and Great Tower.Grade I (see list for details) (7)

NT 9253 3931. Etal Castle tower house. Scheduled RSM No 23225.
A tower house comprising a number of elements which include the tower and its outer enclosure or barmkin, a gatehouse, a corner tower and the sites of various ancillary buildings within the barmkin, built up against the enclosing curtain wall. Full architectural and historical account. (8)

Full historical account. (9)

Small-scale excavations in 1979, 1983 and 1994 in the area where a 4th tower is thought to exist have failed to find any evidence for it, but have found evidence of a pre-curtain wall building. (10)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 1:2500 1964

( 2) by Kenneth H Vickers 1922 A history of Northumberland, volume eleven : the parishes of Carham, Branxton, Kirknewton, Wooler and Ford

A history of Northumberland15 vols (1893-1940) vol.11 Page(s)460-71

( 3) 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

( 4) Field Investigators Comments

F1 EGC 20-JAN-64

( 5) Field Investigators Comments

F2 RWE 06-JAN-67

( 6) List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest

Glendale RD, AUG-1949 Page(s)7

( 7) List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest

Berwick-on-Tweed, 10-MAR-1988 Page(s)52-3

(8) Scheduled Monument Notification

19-OCT-1993

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

Page(s)87-9

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

29, 2001 Page(s)235-52

MONUMENT TYPES

+ / -

COMMENTS

+ / -

Please help us keep our information accurate let us know if you see any errors on this page.

Further information about monuments may be obtained by contacting NMR Enquiry and Research Services , through the English Heritage website.

EH Prints
English Heritage
Heritage Explorer
Heritage Gateway
Images of England
NMR
ViewFinder