| John Burke's Warkworth Castle |
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Saturday 15 August 1998
We had not planned to visit Warkworth Castle, but in the sunshine it looked - and turned out
to be - a splendid castle, better preserved than most.
Even better, it was an English Heritage site (we are members) and there was a special event taking place. |
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The first building of a castle was undertaken by Henry,
Earl of Northumberland around 1150. He built a Great Hall and curtain walls.
The gatehouse and a tower, the Carrickfergus Tower, were added in 1214.
The photograph left shows the Lion Tower. The date of this is uncertain, though it is known that
it was heightened in 1471. |
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The special event was a Viking encampment, with jewellery casting,
crafts and this chap, knocking the dents out of his iron helmet in preparation for the
afternoon's battle!
The castle's keep (below left) was remarkably well preserved with three storeys.
Only the upper storey was inaccessible to the public. |
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Above and to the left of the kitchen fireplace is where the head cook would
oversee the work. |
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The Great Hall and a view of the central Keep Tower.
The space was an ingenious "light well", water from it was collected for washing and flushing
the latrine shafts. |
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The castle was very well appointed with a degree of comfort unusual for
both the times and the region.
Whilst the water from the lightwell would not completely flush away the smell from
the latrines, the castle would certainly not smell as much as was usual - though it was
common knowledge at the time that the smell of urine would keep clothes moths away! |
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A view from a window and the chapel with piscina and sedilia. |
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There is a hermitage set into the rock wall a half mile down-river from the
castle and we walked down to look. |
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The half mile seemed more like a full mile by the time we got there, but
the walk was a pleasant one, alongside the river and it was marred only by the fact that
no one had thought to put up signs in the castle to say that the hermitage was on the
opposite bank and the ferry only operated on Wednesdays and Sundays... |
| Here we can see only the rock face to the right of the hermit's home and
chapel and a wooden shed used by the ferryman. The doorway to the hermit's cell is hidden
behind the trees on the left of the photograph.
We returned to the car and went in search of lunch! |
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