Coordinates: 55°04′32″N 2°11′10″W / 55.0756°N 2.186°W / 55.0756; -2.186

Chipchase Castle

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Chipchase Castle
Northumberland, England
File:Chipchase Castle.jpg
Location
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Grid referenceNY882757

Chipchase Castle is a 17th-century Jacobean mansion incorporating a substantial 14th-century pele tower, which stands north of Hadrian's Wall, near Wark on Tyne, between Bellingham and Hexham in Northumberland, England. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Grade I listed building.[1]

History

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The Heron family acquired the Manor of Chipchase by the marriage of Walter Heron to the Chipchase heiress. He built a massive four-storey battlemented tower house on the site of an earlier house in the mid-14th century.[2][3]

File:Chipchase Castle and the site of Chipchase Deserted Medieval Village in Northumberland.jpg
A lidar view of Chipchase Castle and the site of Chipchase deserted medieval village

A survey in 1541 described a "fare tower" with a "manor of stone joined thereto" owned by John Heron.[4]

In 1621, Cuthbert Heron (High Sheriff of Northumberland in 1625) demolished the house and built a fine Jacobean mansion, leaving the tower standing and attached to the new house.[3] His first son George was killed at the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644 in the service of Charles I. His second son Cuthbert was created a Baronet by Charles II (see Heron Baronets), but he experienced financial problems which eventually led to the sale of the estate by the Herons to George Allgood, a Newcastle merchant, in 1727.[5]

John Reed, a Newcastle upon Tyne banker, acquired the estate in 1734.[6] Reed carried out major alterations to the castle, including a classical façade to the old tower.[7] The failure of Reed's family bank caused his descendants to sell the estate to the Greys of Backworth in 1821 to defray debts.[8] The Greys then sold the estate to Hugh Taylor in 1861.[9]

Today

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The castle is privately owned. It is associated with Paul Torday, the author of the novel Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, which was made into a popular film. He lived there with his second wife Penelope (née Taylor), who inherited the estate, and reportedly did much to help manage it.[10]

The grounds are open to the public but the Castle is open to the public only in June.[11]

References

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  1. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  2. ^ Keys to the Past Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ a b Structures of the North East Archived 2005-11-02 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ The Gatehouse Gazetteer, Chipchase Castle
  5. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  6. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  7. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  8. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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  11. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).

Further reading

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  • Fry, Plantagenet Somerset, The David & Charles Book of Castles, David & Charles, 1980. Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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