| Thursday 13 August 1998
The map shows three villages in close proximity and the guide books of the region always
mentioned them together: Etal, Heatherslaw and Ford.
Both Ford and Etal had a castle, though the one at Ford was used as a training establishment
and wasn't open to the public. Etal, pictured here, is an English Heritage site. |
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The Battle of Flodden was fought near here in 1513. We had a look at the
battlefield another day, so there is a chance to see it later on. At Etal there was a large
display and exhibition about the castles and the battle, and a taped audio guide had some
good audio effects and dramatisations.
The castle would have taken about half an hour to walk round, even seeing absolutely
everything, but the tape was about an hour and in the end got a bit much! The castle itself
though had a fascinating history due to a long term feud between the Manners family of Etal
Castle with the Heron family of Ford Castle. |
| The feud culminated in 1427 when it was claimed that John Manners, heir to the
Etal estate, had slain William Heron of Ford and one of his companions.
William's widow
complained to a arbitrating commision that her husband had been "maliciously slayne" by John
Manners, but in defence John stated that William had come to Etal with an armed force and had
led a "gret assaut made in shotyng of arrowes and strykyng with swerdes."
Judgement went against John Manners however who had to pay 200 marks to the widow of William
Heron and in addition had to pay for 500 masses to be said for the soul of the slain. |
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This photograph and the above show the gatehouse which was particularly well
defended. A barbican originally defended the approach to the gatehouse, joined by a parapet
walkway to the first floor. Between the two would have been a ditch with drawbridge.
A portcullis stood behind the drawbridge, a replica being in situ today. Then a massive
pair of gates stood in the way of any attacker. |
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The curtain wall of the castle is however so thin when compared to other castles that it is
doubtful whether any attacker would have bothered with the gatehouse...
The curtain wall (left) and a wall passage in the gatehouse. |
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The tower house, now an empty shell, had a meutriere or "murder hole" under one
window. This was a vertical hole in the sill of a bay or projecting first or second floor
window which allowed missiles to be dropped vertically onto someone attempting to enter by a
doorway beneath.
The tower house had four storeys and was unusually protected with its own portcullis. |
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As we came out of the tower house we watched, fascinated
as an RAF Tornado flew up the valley towards us and directly over our heads at not more than
300 feet. The sound even over the headset of the taped commentary was terrific!
The exit from the tower house (left) and another view of the gatehouse (right). |
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| It was 11:30am when we came out of the castle and we were ready for a brew and
possibly something to eat. The pub wasn't yet open so we headed for the tea rooms of the village
stores. |
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A last look at the castle and cannon on the way back to the car park. |
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