Warkworth Castle

“ Only the hope that looketh up to heaven.
Warkworth Hermitage is situated about half a mile above Warkworth Castle, on the brink of the Coquet river. This venerable retreat is probably the best preserved and the most entire work of its kind now remaining in the kingdom. ”

“ WARKWORTH CASTLE, in Northumberland, stands very boldly on a neck of land near the sea-shore, almost surrounded by the river Coquet (called by our old Latin historians Coqueda) which runs with a clear and rapid stream, but when swollen with rains becomes violent and dangerous.
About a mile from the Castle, in a deep romantic valley, are the remains of a Hermitage; of which the Chapel is still entire. This is hollowed with great elegance, in a cliff near the river ”

“ The interior of the Castle, which is modern, and fitted and furnished in the Italian style, was much admired. The furniture, ornamentation, and fine gallery of paintings were made the subject of comment by Dr. Bruce, who acted as cicerone over the interior, as Mr. Clark had done over the exterior of the building. At three o’clock all the visitors lunched in the banqueting-hall of the Castle.
On their way to Alnwick, the company visited Warkworth Castle, on the Coquet, a magnificent building, but still little more than a ruin. ”

“ The grand gate of entrée has been a stately structure, but a few only of its apartments now remain. For several ages, Warkworth Castle continued to be the favourite residence of the noble family of Percy, who derive the title of Baron from this ancient manor. ”

“ Widderington Castle, with the exception of one tower, was destroyed by fire. Warkworth Castle is about a mile from the mouth of the Alne, and is the seat of the Duke of Northumberland. Bamborough, the finest specimen of a feudal castle in the north of England, is said to have been founded by King Ida about the middle of the sixth century. Lord Crewe, Bishop of Durham, purchased the Bamborough estates between 1709 and 1720, and left them for charitable purposes. ”

“ It was when the castle was bestowed by Edward III. upon Lord Percy of Alnwick that it became, for more than two hundred years, the chief residence of that illustrious family; becoming in the next reign of historical value as the home of that Hotspur whose valour and gallantry made Henry IV. envy the Earl of Northumberland, in that he “should be the father of so blest a son.” In Act II., Scene 3 of “Henry IV.,” Part II., Shakespeare has laid the scene at Warkworth Castle, where Hotspur’s wife, troubled by her lord’s moody abstraction, tries to win from him the reason of his secret care. ”

“ The new type of keepless castle never entirely displaced the old keep-and-bailey type. We have already seen that keeps of the old sort continued to be built till the end of the Middle Ages. Hawarden Castle has a good example of a 14th-century round keep; Warkworth a most remarkable specimen of the 15th, the plan being a square tower with polygonal turrets set on each face. ”

“ A short distance from Amble, and practically encircled by the Coquet which here makes a wide sweep, we come upon Warkworth, prettiest of villages, combining the beauties of sea-shore and river scenery, and rich in the possession of that romantic castle, the ruins of which carry the mind back to Saxon times; for they stand on the site of an older fortress erected by Ceolwulf, a Saxon King of Northumbria. ”

“ Thence they marched to Warkworth, their road lying for the most part along the banks of the beautiful river Coquet.
XII.—WARKWORTH CASTLE. Next day, the two insurgent chiefs, who were lodged with all their followers in Warkworth Castle, were joined by Lord Widdrington with thirty horsemen.
His lordship would have brought double that number of men, but horses and equipments for them were wanting. Plenty of raw undisciplined infantry could be found, but cavalry were required.
On the whole, however, the prospects of the insurgents were very encouraging. ”

“ An ivied ruin near at hand, with walls of enormous strength, is said to be the remains of the castle where the final tragedy in “The Hermit of Warkworth” took place. Here, it is said, the distracted lover came upon his lady and his brother, who had at that moment effected her escape, and not recognising the youth, rushed upon the pair with drawn sword, only to discover too late his terrible mistake, and lose both brother and bride—for the lady received a mortal wound in trying to save her rescuer. ”

“ This was generally a small doorway, preferably in the base of a tower, but often in the curtain, opening on the least frequented side of the castle. In time of siege, in a castle of the ordinary plan, a postern might easily be a source of danger; and its employment in the scheme of defence was incompletely understood at first. But it was useful for the conveyance of provisions to the castle; and a postern, as at Warkworth, is often found in connection with a kitchen or store-room. Where a castle stood near a river, a water-gate, communicating with a private wharf was made. ”

“ A living novelist, the best of our story tellers, has made Warkworth the starting-point of one of his Christmas tales, and has most admirably conveyed to the reader the feeling of the place. Whom should I mean but Mr. Walter Besant? The church where his hero did penance, and where his heroine bravely stood beside her lover, is at the foot of the village street, which slopes upward to the height on which the Castle stands. Just beyond the church is the great stone archway through which the town must be entered, standing at the inner side of the bridge over the Coquet stream. ”

“ Agnes de Percy sole heiress of her house, married Josceline de Louvaine, youngest son of Godfrey Barbatus, duke of Brabant, and brother of Queen Adeliza, second wife of King Henry I, he took the name of Percy, and was ancestor of the Earls of Northumberland. His son, Lord Richard de Percy, was one of the twenty-six barons chosen to see the Magna Charta duly observed.
(11) Wark Castle, a fortress belonging to the English, and of great note in ancient times, stood on the southern bank of the river Tweed, a little to the east of Tiviotdale, and not far from Kelso. It is now entirely destroyed. ”

“ Even the outer walls of Bolton, a strong and well-guarded castle, are pierced with windows which admit a considerable amount of light. Bodiam and Raglan (331) , relying on the great breadth of their moats, have large outward window openings. In all these instances, however, the dwelling-house, even at Raglan, is still regarded as a house within a castle. In the planning of the tower house at Warkworth the military and domestic ideals were both present to the minds of the builders. Neither can be said to prevail: the building was equally useful as house and castle. ”

“ It is universally agreed, that the founder was one of the Bertram family, which had once considerable possessions in Northumberland, and were anciently Lords of Bothal Castle, which is 10 miles from Warkworth. ”

“ Warwick was detained in London by negotiations with ambassadors from France and Burgundy, and, though he reached York by 5 May, his brother Montagu had the sole honour of giving the quietus to the northern Lancastrians at Hedgeley Moor and Hexham. In June the two brothers reduced the three outstanding strongholds (Warkworth, p. 36; Worcester, p. 782) . All England, except an isolated handful of men in Harlech Castle, had now submitted to Edward, and foreign powers had ceased to look askance upon him. For this he had to thank Warwick and the Nevilles. ”

“ As we crossed the bridge leading over the River Avon we had a splendid view of Warwick Castle, which had the reputation of being the finest example of a fortified castle in England, Sir Walter Scott describing it as "the fairest monument of ancient and chivalrous splendour which yet remain uninjured by time." It could boast of a continuous history from the time of Ethelfreda, the daughter of the Saxon King, Alfred the Great, and its towers rose to a considerable height, Cæsar's tower reaching an elevation of 174 feet. ”

“ Wales and Normans, 254 Wallace family, 319 Wallingford, 28, 228 Walwern, 301 Wareham, 25, 28 Warenne, Wm., 124, 165 Wark, 366, 367, 368 n. 2, 388 Warkworth, 377 Warwick, 36, 230 Wasta, 114 Waterford, 347 Water-supply, 362-363 Watling Street, 16, 32, 382 Waytemore Castle, 107 Weardbyrig, 36 Welsh halls, 251 Welshpool, 265 Wessex, 13 Wexford, 348 Wicklow, 348 Wigingamere, 41 Wigmore, 232 William I., 22, 77 William the Lion, 163, 305 Willington, 57 Winchester, 233 Winding walks on mottes, 102, 121 Windsor, 236; borough, 238 Wisbeach, 239 Wiston, 279 Witham, 39 Wolvesey Castle, 235 n. ”

“ But after the attendant has hurried you from end to end of the edifice, repeating a guide-book by rote, and exorcising each successive hall of its poetic glamour and witchcraft by the mere tone in which he talks about it, you will make the doleful discovery that Warwick Castle has ceased to be a dream. It is better, methinks, to linger on the bridge, gazing at Caesar's Tower and Guy's Tower in the dim English sunshine above, and in the placid Avon below, and still keep them as thoughts in your own mind, than climb to their summits, or touch even a stone of their actual substance. ”

“ A sudden turn brought us abruptly into the vast open court, when there burst upon our vision a fortress, mighty and magnificent, and this was Warwick Castle! No matter how many embattled castles you see, the one seen first will be stamped forever upon your memory, and I hope it will be beautiful Warwick. We were shown through the state apartments, but they were as nothing compared with my first glimpse of the massive fortress of the feudal barons of Warwick—the old king-makers. ”

“ I should be ashamed to confess, indeed, that I was not pleased with the pictures, and more than pleased with the exquisite carvings and magnificent sculpture, viewed merely as works of art; but I was fatigued with the vast worldliness of such a house, and felt that it would better have suited a Hadrian, than it does a Christian nobleman of England. Such a residence as Warwick Castle comes to its possessor historically, and a nobleman may well keep it up; but Chatsworth seems built for display, and must be altogether too much for comfort. ”

“ These tokens indicate a famous spot; and casting our eyes along the smooth gleam and shadow of the quiet stream, through a vista of willows that droop on either side into the water, we behold the gray magnificence of Warwick Castle, uplifting itself among stately trees, and rearing its turrets high above their loftiest branches. We can scarcely think the scene real, so completely do those machicolated towers, the long line of battlements, the massive buttresses, the high-windowed walls, shape out our indistinct ideas of the antique time. ”

“ The history of a fabric, so intimately connected with some of the most important events recorded in the chronicles of our country, as that of Warwick Castle, cannot fail to be alike interesting to the antiquary, the historian, and the man of letters. This noble edifice is also rendered the more attractive, as being one of the very few that have escaped the ravages of war, or have defied the mouldering hand of time ”

“ With this fierce “Black Dog of Arden,” whose teeth were so sharp, the architectural history of the Castle becomes clear. He repaired and strengthened it, after the rough handling it had received in the Barons’ War, in the reign of Henry the Third; but to Thomas de Beauchamp, his grandson, is due Cæsar’s Tower, about 1360, and it was his son Thomas, who built Guy’s Tower, named after the mythical giant, about 1394.
It costs two shillings to see Warwick Castle. I believe if you happen to be a resident of Warwick or Leamington, there is a reduction of fifty per cent. ”

“ It is enough to say here that, in most cases, stonework forms a late Norman or Plantagenet addition to early Norman earthwork. At Newcastle part of the early mount48 remained, side by side with the late twelfth century tower-keep, until within the last hundred years. Warkworth, most instructive of English castles, preserves the base of its mount and the area of its original bailey: the mount bears a strong tower-house of the early fifteenth century; on the line of the bank of the bailey is a stone curtain of about the year 1200 ”

“ You, accomplished reader of history and memoirs, know better than I that the Earls of Warwick were once the mightiest vassals of England, and that the great Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, boasted of having deposed three kings, and placed as many on the vacant throne. This was his castle, standing ever since the ninth century, and in the possession of the same family since the reign of Elizabeth. A tower of the castle, said to have been built by Beauchamp himself, remains unaltered; and the whole stands colossal and mighty, like an embodied vision of former times. ”

“ Warwick Castle is a structure which must grow more and more interesting from decade to decade. It is the only feudal palace left intact in England. It was ranked among the very best of them when they were all alive and strong over the land. It is associated with a name that stands among the first in the Norman aristocracy. Its location in itself is deeply interesting. Shakespeare breathed an inspiration upon the little Avon that laves its foundations, and gave to its name an immortality more vital and beautiful than the Tiber's. ”

“ All these aspects and associations are becoming more and more widely appreciated, and the footfall of visiters from distant countries crossing the threshold will grow more and more frequent as the readers of English history and romance increase in both hemispheres.
But Warwick is not all castle. Far from it. It is a goodly, venerable town with a public character and history distinct from the castle. One of its streets, full a third of a mile in length, can hardly be surpassed in the country for neatness, tidy elegance, and picturesque variety and vista of architecture. ”