Bamburgh Castle is a castle on the northeast coast of England, by the village of Bamburgh in Northumberland.

Although the first remains date back to the 6th century, Iron Age sites have been found around it.

Originally the site was the location of a Celtic Britons fort known as Din Guarie and may have been the capital of the kingdom of Bernicia in the 6th century. After passing between the Britons and the Anglo-Saxons three times, the fort came under Anglo-Saxon control in 590, but the fort was destroyed by Vikings in 993, and the Normans later built a new castle on the site, which forms the core of the present one.

In the 17th century, financial difficulties led to the castle deteriorating, but it was restored by various owners during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Origins & History

Built on a dolerite outcrop, the location was previously home to a fort of the indigenous Celtic Britons known as Din Guarie and may have been the capital of the kingdom of Bernicia, the realm of the Gododdin people, from the realm's foundation in c.420 until 547, the year of the first written reference to the castle.

In that year, the citadel was captured by the first known king of the Anglo kingdom of Bernicia, Ida of Bernicia (c. 559) and became the seat of Ida.

The castle was briefly retaken by the Britons from his son Hussa of Bernicia during the war of 590 before being retaken later the same year. Around 600, Hussa's successor, the King of Bernicia, Æthelfrith (c.616), passed it on to his wife Acha of Deira, from whom the first name Bebbanburh was derived. However, the Vikings destroyed the original fortification in 993.

Later, the Normans built a new castle on the site, which forms the core of the present one and William II of England (1060-1100) unsuccessfully besieged it in 1095 during a revolt supported by it's owner, Robert de Mowbray (1075-1125), Earl of Northumbria.

After Robert was captured, his wife continued the defence until coerced to surrender by the king's threat to blind her husband and Bamburgh then became the property of the reigning English monarch.

Henry II of England (1133-1189) probably built the keep as it was complete by 1164.

Following the Siege of Acre in 1191, and as a reward for his service, King Richard I of England (1157-1199) appointed Sir John Forster (c.1176-1220) the first Governor of Bamburgh Castle.

Later, following the defeat of the Scots at the Battle of Neville's Cross in October 17, 1346, King David II of Scotland (1324-1371) was held prisoner at Bamburgh Castle.

It should be noted that during the civil wars at the end of King John's (1166-1216) reign, the castle was under the control of Philip of Oldcotes (c.1220).

In 1464 during the Wars of the Roses (1455-1487), it became the first castle in England to be defeated by artillery, at the end of a nine-month siege by Richard Neville (1428-1471), 16th Earl of Warwick and known as 'the Kingmaker', since as the richest man in England outside the royal family, he used his power to overthrow the Lancaster Henry VI of England (1421-1471) to replace him with the Yorkist Edward IV of England (1442-1483), and then restore Henry VI (1421-1471) himself.

During modern history, the Forster family of Northumberland continued to provide the Crown with successive governors of the castle until the Crown granted ownership, or a lease according to some sources, of the church and the castle to another Sir John Forster (1520-1602) in the mid 1500s, after the Dissolution of the Monasteries (1536-1540).

The family retained ownership until Sir William Forster (1667-1700) was posthumously declared bankrupt, and his estates, including the castle, were sold to Nathaniel Crew, 3rd Baron Crew (1633-1721), Bishop of Durham from 1674 to 1721 and husband of his sister Dorothy Forster (1672-1715), under an Act of Parliament to settle the debts in 1704.

Crewe placed the castle in the hands of a board of trustees chaired by Thomas Sharp (1693-1758), the Archdeacon of Northumberland.

Following the death of Thomas Sharp (1693-1758), leadership of the board of trustees passed to John Sharp (1722-1792), Thomas Sharp's (1693-1758) son, who refurbished the castle keep and court rooms and established a hospital on the site.

Later, in 1894, the castle was bought by the Victorian industrialist William Armstrong (1810-1900), who completed the restoration.

During the Second World War (1939-1945), pillboxes were established in the sand dunes to protect the castle and surrounding area from German invasion and, in 1944, a Royal Navy corvette was named HMS Bamborough Castle after the castle.

Location

About 9 miles to the south on a point of coastal land is the ancient fortress of Dunstanburgh Castle and about 5 miles to the north is Lindisfarne Castle on Holy Island. Inland about 16 miles to the south is Alnwick Castle, the home of the Duke of Northumberland.

Currently, Bamburgh Castle is owned by the descendants of William Armstrong (1810-1900) and is a Grade I listed building.

Armstrong and Aviation Artefacts Museum

The castle's laundry rooms feature the Armstrong and Aviation Artefacts Museum, with exhibits about Victorian industrialist William Armstrong (1810-1900) and Armstrong Whitworth, the manufacturing company he founded.

Displays include engines, artillery and weaponry, and aviation artefacts from two world wars.

Archaeology

Archaeological excavations were started in the 1960s by Brian Hope-Taylor (1923-2001), who discovered the gold plaque known as the Bamburgh Beast as well as the Bamburgh Sword.

Since 1996, the Bamburgh Research Project has been investigating the archaeology and history of the Castle and Bamburgh area focusing on the fortress site and the early medieval burial ground at the Bowl Hole, to the south of the castle.

During excavations at the Bowl Hole between 1998 and 2007, the remains of 110 individuals from the 7th and 8th century were discovered in that graveyard.

Finally, in 2016, they were moved into the crypt of St Aidan's Church, Bamburgh; the crypt can be viewed by visitors through a small gate.