| John Burke's Brough Castle |
The Remains of Clifford's Tower |
The view from the Keep |
Brough Castle is in a remote position along the A66 that
crosses the country linking Cumbria with the north east. This road is exposed and affected
frequently by high winds and snow in winter.
The village of Brough is small and there is no car park for visitors to the castle
which is reached through a cow field - mind your footing! |
The Keep - A Climb to a Tiny Platform |
Brough Castle was first built around 1100 on the
northern part of the Roman fort of Verteris.
Above (left) we see what is left of Clifford's Tower, built around 1300 by
Robert Clifford.
His grandfather had been a border baron of the southern marches of Wales and was
great-nephew of a mistress of Henry II.
Robert traded his land in Monmouth for the Honour of Skipton in 1310 and came into
ownership of several castles in the north. |
| Robert would have added the curtain wall and
strengthened the existing keep.
The top right photograph shows the view from the top of the keep, which has some ancient
graffiti carved into the walls.
The main block of buildings adjoining the Round Tower were added fifty years later by his
grandson, Roger. This is all but ruined now as seen here, although one room is still whole
and is used as a storeroom. |
The Main Block and Hall c1350 |
Plaster on the Walls of the Keep |
The castle had been destroyed by the Scots in 1174, being rebuilt towards
the end of the 12th century.
A fire in 1521 destroyed Roger's building work and the castle
lay derelict until 1659, when that great restorer, Lady Anne Clifford, Countess of
Pembroke (1590-1676) began a three year restoration project. She had described Brough as
"Going to ruin, more and more".
Lady Anne was the last of the Cliffords. Following her death the castle passed to the
Earls of Thanet. |
| Whilst I had climbed to the top of the tower on a previous visit, taking the
photograph seen at the top of the page, it was a somewhat precarious climb and when I last
visited, I could not find access to the staircase - although in truth I did not walk all the
way round the keep and it may still be there.
However these two large pieces of stonework, lying where they fell from the keep, show the
danger of these old buildings. The cost of restoration is prohibitive and therefore the
emphasis is on arresting further decay. |
Fallen Masonry from the Keep |
|
