BAMBURGH CASTLE

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Very large 12th century royal castle atop a volcanic outcrop, overlying prehistoric and Roman occupation. Limited excavation in 1960 and the late 1960s/early 1970s revealed that the naturally defensive site, well placed for coastal control, was continuously occupied from the first century BC until the end of the Middle Ages. Use of the site began in the pre Roman Iron Age, and Roman activity, included a possible beacon site on the seaward terminal of the rock. By 547 AD the site was a royal centre, Din Guyardi, the capital of the royal dynasty of Northumbria, where remains of St Oswald were preserved in the Basilica of St Peter. A castle was built in the 12th century. Ruinous by 1704 it was extensively restored between 1894 and 1904 and divided into apartments. Original 12th century remains include the keep, the main entrance and inner gateway with a vault, and a chapel. In 1464, Bamburgh became the first English castle to succumb to artillery assault.Despite its history there has been little investigation of the site. The Bamburgh Project, under the aegis of The Archaeological Practice, began in 1997 to investigate the site and its environs. Resistivity and magnetometry survey revealed possible Anglo Saxon features underlying the Inner and West Wards and the Chapel of St Peter.

The monument is also visible as extant buildings, upstanding structures and earthworks on air photographs mapped as part of the North East Coast Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey.
It is still extant and in very good conditions on the latest 2005 NMRC oblique photography.

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(NU183351) Bamburgh Castle (NR)
(NU18183521) St Oswald's Gate (NR) (1)

History and description of the castle. (2)

For Mediaeval remains see illustrations. (3)

Well preserved. On the South-East side are the remains of a bank which, together with the natural cliffs, appears to have formed a dry ditch between the barbican and the gatehouse, Surveyed at 1:2500. (4)

Bamburgh Castle. Largely inhabited, except for ruins. Imosing landmark on long narrow outcrop of rock above the beach. A 12th century 3-storeyed keep, battlemented, with thick crude vaulting on the ground floor, and cross-vaults above on round arches, and an apsidal West end. Three baileys with gatehouses, Norman and Mediaeval. Acquired by Lord Crewe in 1704 (all then in ruins), and left to charities at his death. Made habitable circa 1757 by Dr Sharp, (trustee), who used the buildings for schooling, an infirmary, a granary and a lighthouse. The whole was drastically restored in 1890. Ruins of 12th century apsidal chapel. (5)

Limited excavations in the castle grounds between 1971-4 suggest that the area has been in continuous occupation since the late pre-Roman Iron Age. (6)

Reference to the 1971 excavations. (7)

A geophysical survey has been undertaken in the area between the keep and St peter's Chapel. Linear features, probably buildings, were noted, and found to be on different alignments to the castle buildings. These are interpretted as being Saxon in origin.Examination beneath the Chapel also located features predating the construction of the chapel, but too indeterminate to identify. (8)

Built on the site of a Northumbrian defended site in 1095. Keep mentioned in 1164, building work done 1220-37. Beseiged unsuccessfully by the Scots in 1138,1328 and 1333. Taken by Yorkists in 1462 (twice) and by French and Scots on behalf of the Lancastrians in 1463. Finally captured by the Yorkists using guns in 1464. In bad repair by the 16th century. Modern alterations. (9)

History of the castle. (10)

Bamburgh, formerly the citadel of the Kings of Bernicia, became a royal fortress in 1095 when captured from the Earl of Northumberland. Except for a short period when it was in the possession of the Earl of Huntingdon, King David of Scotland's son, it remained an important royal fortress until the unification of the English and Scottish Crowns. During the struggle bewtween Henry III and Simon de Montfort, it was the only royal castle to remain consistently loyal to the King. (11)

A fragment of what was formerly thought to be a large cross-head was found in the castle in the late 19th century. The fragment is best interpretted as part of the arm of a stone chair dating to 775-824. (12)

The monument is also visible as extant buildings, upstanding structures and earthworks on air photographs mapped as part of the North East Coast Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey.
It is still extant and in very good conditions on the latest 2005 NMRC oblique photography.
(13-14)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 1:2500 1966

( 2) General reference

Bamburgh Castle Official Guide 1968 (Historical sections revised B Hope-Taylor)

( 3) Northumberland County History

1893 (E Bateson) 1 Page(s)57

( 4) Field Investigators Comments

F1 DS 06-Nov-1968

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

MHLG (Prov List) Belford RD, Northum, May 1969, p3

( 6) by Brian Hope-Taylor 1977 Yeavering : an Anglo-British centre of early Northumbria

Department of the Environment archaeological reports no.7 Page(s)292, 301-2, 370, 371

( 7) Northumberland County Council Archaeology in Northumberland: [annual newsletter]

(P Wood and G Young) 1997-8 Page(s)32-3

( 8) Council for British Archaeology Group 3: Archaeological newsbulletin for Northumberland, Cumberland, Durham, Westmorland and Lancashire-north-of-the-sands

1, 1972 Page(s)9

(9) 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

2 - 1983 Page(s)326

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

Page(s)136-142

(11) R Allen Brown, H M Colvin and A J Taylor 1963 The history of the King's Works, volume 2 : the Middle Ages

Page(s)554-8

(12) by Rosemary Cramp 1984 Corpus of Anglo-Saxon stone sculpture, volume 1 : County Durham and Northumberland

Page(s)162

(13) Oblique aerial photograph reference number

NMR NU 1835/44 (20422/15) 17-AUG-2005

(14) Oblique aerial photograph reference number

NMR NU 1835/40 (20431/12) 17-AUG-2005

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