Nine
Northumberland
www.bamburghcastle.com
Sitting high on a massive rock overlooking the North Sea, Bamburgh Castle is a Grade I listed building built by the Normans. During the eleventh century, it was the property of Robert Earl of Northumberland when he came to disagreement with King William II, who besieged the castle. The Earl was subsequently captured as he tried to escape with the castle becoming the property of the monarchy. Consequently the castle underwent numerous additions and upgrades with the keep completed by Henry II.
During the Wars of the Roses, the castle was occupied by the Lancastrians. However, they relinquished the castle in 1464 to Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, who subjected it to a nine-month siege until they surrendered. Today, the castle remains intact and is one of the finest in England. The Armstrong family currently resides in it, along with other spooky denizens of the dark.
A Pink Lady is said to haunt the castle. She is said to be a Northumbrian princess who wanted to marry her true love, but her father disapproved of him and his standing in life. To ensure the romance did not grow any stronger the father sent the suitor overseas hoping that it would all blow over in time. After some time, he told her that her lover had married someone else and that she should forget all about him. To cheer up the distraught girl, the king asked the castle seamstress to make a dress in her favorite color, pink. However, when it was completed, she put on the garment, then climbed on to the highest battlements and threw herself to her death on the rocks below. It is now said that the forlorn princess returns to the castle every seven years in her pink dress, wandering around, then making her way down the rocky path to the beach, where she stands on the sands forever awaiting the return of her lost love.
As well, a ghostly woman with a green cloak is sometimes seen falling from the top of the castle, but vanishes before she hits the ground, and a knight in armor is often heard stomping about the castle, sometimes rattling chains.
County Durham
www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/barnard-castle
A ruined medieval castle situated in County Durham, Barnard Castle is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and was designated a Grade I building in 1950. Dating back to Norman times, it was built by Bernard Balliol between 1112 and 1132.
Somewhere around 1300, Edward I granted the castle to the Earl of Warwick, while in the fifteenth century, the castle passed by marriage to the Neville family who improved the estate and created a substantial and impressive castle. In 1477 during the Wars of the Roses, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and later to become Richard III, took possession of the castle.
The Castle remained a significant military stronghold over the next century until 1569, and the “Rising of the North” plotted at the nearby Raby Castle, saw it come under siege by supporters of Mary Queen of Scots. For eleven days the castle held firm but, running low on provisions, was forced to surrender.
In 1626 the Crown sold the castle to Sir Henry Vane who decided to make nearby Raby Castle his principal residence. As a result, Barnard Castle was abandoned and quickly fell into disrepair, its contents and building materials salvaged for improvements at Raby castle. Today it is a scenic ruin with spectacular views over the River Tees and nearby town. It is also reputed to be haunted by the ghost of Lady Ann Day.
Little is known about Lady Ann except that she lived in the sixteenth century and was murdered at the castle at a young age, her body thrown unceremoniously from the battlements into the chilly waters of the River Tees. And although her murderers name is now lost in the mists of time, horrified onlookers and visitors to the castle have often witnessed a young woman dressed in white falling from the castle. Some have claimed that her fall is punctuated by a heart rendering scream but as she hits the water the sound stops and there is no splash.
In addition, many visitors have experienced uneasy feelings of dread when in the Round Tower. Whether this is connected to the death of Lady Ann Day is unknown.
Northumberland
www.heartofhadrianswall.com
/forts-and-castles/82-bellister-castle
Located on the south bank of the River Tyne, across from the town of Haltwhistle, Bellister Castle stands on a partly man-made mount and was owned by Robert de Ros and his descendants from 1191 to 1295. In 1312 Gerrald Salveyn acquired the property, but it was confiscated from him in about 1354. John de Blenkinsopp, the owner of nearby Blenkinsopp Castle is thought to have built its tower after he acquired the building in about 1480. In the 1830s it was converted into a mock Gothic house by the famous architect John Dobson and is now a private residence although owned by the National Trust who purchased it in 1975.
It is reputedly haunted by the Gray Man of Bellister, the ghost of a wandering minstrel who was given food and lodgings for the night in return for some tales and songs. However, Lord Blenkinsopp suspected that the man was either a thief or a spy and when the minstrel slipped outside instead of retiring for the night, it confirmed his fears. The minstrel was pursued by the servants and the lord’s hounds who caught him on the banks of the river and tore him to pieces. Not only did his ghost haunt Lord Blenkinsopp for the rest of his life, but it also said to haunt the building and grounds with locals insisting that they hear the baying of hounds at night as well as the screams of an old man
Interestingly, there is an old Sycamore tree in front of the west side of the castle which is known as the hanging tree. It is believed that the tree was used for executing Royalist Cavaliers during the Civil War.
County Durham
www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/bowes-castle
Located in County Durham, Bowes Castle was built in 1136 by Alan the Red, Count of Brittany, who also owned the nearby Richmond Castle. It stands on a late first century Roman fort that was designed to protect the road across the Pennine Mountains. In 1173 it was allegedly besieged by King William of Scotland and between 1314 and 1322, it was virtually destroyed. By 1325 it was reportedly in a state of ruins.
According to legend, near the end of the Roman occupation in England, the Roman garrison raided the local villages stealing everything of worth, including gold. Angered, the locals banded together and attacked the fort killing all the soldiers. However, when they went to retrieve their valuables they found the gold missing as the Romans had buried it somewhere. The gold has never been recovered and on the anniversary of the massacre, the ghosts of the garrison are said to appear at the castle to bury their stolen gold and treasure.
Paul Gater in his book Ghosts at War notes, “Legend has it that about three hundred years ago, a couple of local men spent the supposed anniversary night of the massacre among the ruins. Afterwards, they both claimed having seen a group of phantom Roman soldiers carrying a large chest of gold and burying it. Unfortunately they were unable to say where and both died violent deaths soon afterwards.”
In recent times there have been reports from walkers in the area of seeing the ghostly soldiers in full uniform with helmets and shields as well as a standard that flies proudly in the wind. As well, there are regular sightings and reports of large, dark shadows that move around the castle, and with so much bloodshed at the place over the past, it comes as little surprise that it is considered haunted.
Northumberland
www.blenkinsoppcastleinn.co.uk
Located in Greenhead, Northumberland, about a mile from Hadrian’s Wall, Blenkinsopp Castle is a partly-ruined country mansion that incorporates the remains of a fourteenthcentury tower house. It is now a Grade I building and Scheduled Ancient Monument. It was previously owned by the Blenkinsopp family from the thirteenth century. However, by 1541 it was reported that the roof was in decay and the tower in poor repair, so the family abandoned it and moved to nearby Bellister Castle. It was later renovated in 1877 by William Blenkinsopp Coulson. In 1954 it was severely damaged by fire. It has only just recently come on the market again.
It is said that the castle is haunted by a phantom hound and a White Lady. The former is said to appear when the owner of the property is near death, while the White Lady is believed to be the ghost of the wife of Bryan de Blenkinsopp. Legend has it that she became upset upon hearing gossip that she had married him only for his money, so she hid the treasure which, caused her husband to lose his temper and, in a rage, he left the castle never to return. She waited for years for him to return but he never did and now she haunts the castle, guarding the treasure that she hid and still waiting in vain for his return.
It appears that the White Lady is now seen quite infrequently, however, a story associated with her concerns a family who were renting the premises. One night, after going to bed, the husband and wife were startled to hear screams coming from an adjoining room in which one of their children, a boy aged about eight, was sleeping. On entering the room, the couple found the boy sitting on the bed trembling and white faced. When they asked him what had happened, he could only stammer the words “The White Lady! The White Lady!”
Confused, the parents asked him about this White Lady, pointing out that the room was empty.
The parents concluded that the boy had probably had a nightmare and in time managed to get him back to sleep. However, for three successive nights they were disturbed in the same manner, the boy repeating the same story with little variation. In the end they had no option but to move the terrified child to another room, although the boy, it is said, would never enter any part of the old castle on his own after his frightening experience.
Newcastle
www.newcastlecastle.co.uk
Castle Keep is one of the finest surviving examples of a Norman keep in England and is a part of the castle, Newcastle, a medieval fortification in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. It, and the Black Gate, a fortified gatehouse, are the most prominent remaining structures on the site which is located on a steep-sided promontory which overlooks the River Tyne.
Castle Keep was built by Henry II between 1172 and 1177 with the Black Gate added by Henry III between 1247 and 1250. In 1589, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the castle was described as being in ruins although during the English Civil War, the Royalist mayor of Newcastle, Sir John Marley, repaired the keep and probably also refortified the castle. In 1644 the Scottish Army crossed the border in support of the Parliamentarians and besieged Newcastle for three months until the garrison surrendered. During the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, the keep was used as a prison and by 1800 there were a large number of houses within the boundaries of the castle.
Today the Castle Keep is a visitor attraction and is a Grade I building, open to the public almost every day of the year.
Numerous people have reported inexplicable ghostly happenings in Castle Keep, including the sounds of ghostly footsteps in the narrow corridors, to unexplained mists which visitors have captured on camera. Visitors also have complained of experiencing cold spots that appear and disappear without any reason as well as being touched by invisible hands.
The Queens Chamber is reputed to be the most haunted area, with many people reporting that they have heard chanting in the chamber, similar to the chants of monks. A ghostly woman has been seen many times in the chamber as well as in the chapel, and visitors have reported being attacked, scratched, and shoved.
The Keep’s most famous ghost, however, is known as the “Poppy Girl.” Legend suggests she is the ghost of a flower girl who was sent to prison because she owed some people money. While she was in prison she was raped and beaten to death by the male prisoners. She is often seen on the stairs of the keep and it is said that when she is nearby, a scent of flowers is in the air.
Northumberland
www.chillingham-castle.com
Originally a monastery in the late twelfth century, Chillingham Castle is a medieval castle in the northern part of Northumberland. At first glimpse the staid old building could have been taken straight from a fairy tale, however the reality is somewhat more gruesome.
In 1344 a License to crenellate was issued by King Edward III to allow battlements to be built, effectively upgrading the stronghold to a fully fortified castle as it was the first line of defense against invading Scots. Renovations included a dungeon where prisoners from this conflict were sealed up, interrogated, and subjected to horrific tortures. Captured soldiers would have their arms and legs broken before being tossed down through a trap door, falling twenty feet into the dungeon below to die a slow and painful death.
In 1617, as relations between England and Scotland became peaceful, James I stayed at the castle and, as the need for a military presence in the north diminished, the castle was gradually transformed with the moat filled and battlements converted into residential wings.
During the second world war, the castle was used as an army barracks with the decorative wood interior stripped out and burned by the soldiers billeted there. After the war, the castle fell into disrepair with lead removed from the roof, resulting in extensive water damage to large parts of the building. These days the castle has been renovated and certain sections are open to the public.
Chillingham Castle’s dungeons are a thing of legend with horrific stories of Scottish prisoners trapped in the dungeon who were so starved that they resorted to eating the dead. And just as horrific, the most desperate were said to have resorted to eating their own flesh. As such, it doesn’t take a great stretch of imagination to suggest that the place is haunted, and the castle does not disappoint in this respect as the amount of supernatural experiences people have reported during their visits to the castle are astounding.
One of the castle’s most famous ghosts is the Blue Boy. He is believed to be the spirit of a young child who was found bricked up along with some documents and a few scraps of blue clothing. The bones of his fingers had been worn away to the nubs, suggesting that he had been bricked in while alive and that he had tried to scratch his way out. People have reported hearing the terrifying screams of the boy in the Pink Bedroom before the sound stops and the spirit of the boy, dressed in blue and surrounded by a bright aura would approach the old four-poster bed. After the discovery of his body in the 1920s, his bones were interred in the local graveyard and sightings of his ghost ceased. However, visitors who sleep in the Pink Bedroom often report that one wall of the room lights up with bright flashes of blue light suggesting that his spirit is still active.
Lady Mary Berkeley is another of the castle’s ghosts. She is seldom seen but the rustle of her dress is often heard by visitors as she crosses the living room, apparently searching for her errant husband who seduced and ran off with his wife’s younger sister in the 1600s, leaving Mary and her baby girl alone in the castle.
In the inner pantry a frail figure in white sometimes appears to visitors. She is known as the White Pantry Ghost and is suspected of having died from poisoning. The family silver used to be stored in the room where she is seen, and a footman was employed to sleep here and guard it. One night, when the footman had turned in to sleep, he was approached by a very pale-looking lady in white who asked him for some water. Thinking it was one of the castle guests he turned to get her some when he remembered he was locked in and no visitor could have possibly entered. When he turned back, the apparition had disappeared. It is thought her longing for water suggests that she was poisoned.
Beside the great hall, the voices of two men are often heard talking although no one can make out what they are talking about. They stop talking if one makes an effort to trace them, suggesting that whoever the ghosts are, they are aware of what is going on around them. Visitors to the castle have also reported having their hair pulled, arms scratched and even being bitten by unseen assailants while in the dark of its stone walls and corridors.
Northumberland
www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places
/dunstanburgh-castle
Standing on a rocky outcrop overlooking the sea on its eastern flank, Dunstanburgh Castle is a serene and picturesque ruin dating back to the fourteenth century. Built by Earl Thomas of Lancaster between 1313 and 1322 and taking advantage of the site’s natural defenses and the existing earthworks of an Iron Age fort, it served as a secure refuge for those opposed to King Edward II, as well as serving as a statement of the Earl’s influence. Thomas however, was captured by Royalists and executed on a hill north of St John’s Priory. It is rumored that the executioner was inexperienced and that it took him eleven blows to sever Thomas’s head with the axe. The castle then became the property of the Crown. The Earl’s ghost is now said to haunt the ruins of the castle carrying his mutilated head.
In the 1380s, John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, bolstered the castle’s already formidable defenses due to the threat of Scottish attacks and from the peasant uprisings of 1381. The castle continued to be maintained during the fifteenth century by the Crown and was part of the strategic northern stronghold during the Wars of the Roses, although it changed hands between the rival Lancastrian and Yorkist factions on several occasions. Although the castle survived, it never quite recovered from the sieges and by the sixteenth century it had fallen into disrepair. It was finally sold off to private owners in 1604 with the threat from the Scottish border abating.
The Earl’s ghost has been seen around the castle carrying his mangled head under his arm, his face bearing the pain and horror he suffered when the executioner delivered the final blow that took his life. As well, the ghost of Margaret of Anjou, wife of King Henry VI, has also been reported drifting across the castle grounds. Another alleged resident of the castle is the ghost of Sir Guy the Seeker.
According to the Arthurian legend, Sir Guy the Seeker was a chivalrous knight who, while riding along the Northumberland coast one day, found himself caught in a raging storm and sought shelter within the ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle. Finding sanctuary within its massive gatehouse, Sir Guy was suddenly confronted by a gruesome creature dressed in white who invited him to follow it to be rewarded by a beauty bright.
Intrigued, Sir Guy followed the figure up a winding staircase and into a room that contained hundreds of sleeping knights with their horses. In the center of the room was a sparkling casket in which a beautiful maiden lay sleeping. However, on each side of the maiden were serpents, one holding a sword, the other a horn. Sir Guy was told that he could wake the lady from her slumber, but he must choose either the sword or the horn as only one of them could awaken her. Fatefully, Sir Guy chose the horn and blew it. Suddenly, the sleeping knights came to life and attacked him. As they did, the room began to swirl and he felt himself slipping into unconsciousness. As he did, the figure in white appeared taunting him with a voice that echoed inside his head “Now shame on the coward who sounded a horn, and the knight who sheathed a sword.”
When Sir Guy regained consciousness, he was lying near the ruins of the gatehouse and from that day on he was determined to find the sleeping maiden again and he spent the rest of his life searching the castle for the room in which she had lain. It became an obsession as he searched every corner of the desolate ruin. And yet, for all his determination he never again found the room in which she lay, and he died a broken, lonely old man. It is said that his ghost haunts the castle, fated to search the lonely ruins forever.
County Durham
www.durhamworldheritagesite.com/architecture/castle
Built in the eleventh century as a northern-Norman military stronghold following the Norman Invasion of 1066, Durham Castle is an example of the early motte-and-bailey castle. The castle stands on top of a hill above the River Wear, opposite Durham Cathedral, and possesses a large Great Hall, created by Bishop Antony Bek in the early fourteenth century. Over the centuries it has been the residence of the Bishops of Durham who added to the buildings and altered them to suit the needs over time. It has been occupied since 1840 by University College, Durham and generally open to the public through guided tours as it is a working building and the home to over 100 students.
The most famous of ghosts in the castle is said to exist on a great wooden staircase known as the Black Staircase. This impressive structure lies between the Great Hall and Bishop Pudsey’s building and is constructed of a dark stained wood, hence the nickname. It was built around 1662 and stands sixty feet in height. The ghost that haunts this area is known to all as the Grey Lady of Durham Castle and it is suspected that she was the wife of one of the former bishops who once resided there. It is said that one day, for some unknown reason, feeling suicidal, she climbed the staircase and threw herself off. Visitors and staff alike have reported seeing her tragic figure although her presence is felt more often than not. Interestingly, the Grey Lady is said to float above the steps as their level has changed over the years.
In addition, another ghostly presence is said to haunt the Owengate area of the complex. This is rumored to be the spirit of a university professor who also threw himself down a flight of stairs, this time a set of stone stairs elsewhere in the castle. Maybe, as a visitor, one should be careful on the stairs within the castle.
Northumberland
www.heartofhadrianswall.com
/forts-and-castles/83-featherstone-castle
A Grade I manor house, which belonged to the Featherstonehaugh family, Featherstone Castle played a central role in the battles between the English and the Scots. Originally a thirteenth-century hall house, a square three-story pele tower was added in 1330 by Thomas de Featherstonehaugh to allow it castle status.
Following the start of World War I, the castle was leased to a preparatory school. During World War II it was used by a school from Rugby, although from 1942 a prisoner of war camp was also established. It is now used as a self-catering residential center for young people and students, and although it is somewhat lacking in supernatural stories, its Jacobean frontage certainly looks the part.
Having said that, the ghost story associated with Featherstone castle is interesting all the same as, in the seventeenth century, Baron Featherstonehaugh arranged for his daughter to marry, even though the daughter was in love with someone else. And, according to legend, when the wedding party left for the traditional hunt after the ceremony, they left the Baron behind to oversee arrangements for the banquet. However, when the party failed to return by midnight, the Baron began to fear the worst and while sitting alone at a table, he heard horses crossing the drawbridge. Overjoyed to hear them he leapt to his feet just as the doors opened and the party entered. However, to his consternation they made no sound and passed straight through the furniture and walls.
Later he was to learn that the wedding party had been ambushed and killed by the daughter’s spurned lover and his family. Now on the 17th of January, the anniversary of the wedding, the ghostly wedding party can be seen riding toward the castle.
Apart from this, it is also said that a female ghost in a green and brown dress haunts the castle, gliding silently along the corridors, while the tormented spirit of Sir Reginald FitzUrse haunts a tower where he was held prisoner and starved to death
Northumberland
www.haughtoncastle.com
A fortified mansion situated to the north of the village of Humshaugh, Haughton Castle was originally built in the thirteenth century as a tower house, although it was later enlarged and fortified in the fourteenth century when owned by Gerald Widdrington. Sadly, by the sixteenth century the castle had fallen into disrepair and a survey of 1541 reported the roof and floors to be “decayed and gone.”
In about 1640, the castle was acquired by the Smith family, although a further survey in 1715 again stated the building to be ruinous. However, significant alterations were carried out between 1816 and 1845 and the building was converted to a substantial mansion. Part of the castle served as a hospital during the Second World War and it is regarded as one of the best-preserved hall houses in the north of England
The castle is said to be haunted by the ghost of the head of the Armstrong clan, Archie Armstrong, who was captured in the sixteenth century and accidentally left to starve to death in the castle’s dungeons. Apparently Sir Thomas Swinburne, the castle owner, had been summoned to York by the Chancellor, Lord Cardinal Wolsey and forgot that he had thrown Armstrong in the dungeon. By the time he remembered, Armstrong had gone three days without water or food, so he sped back and eventually reached the castle at midnight, exhausted. However, he was too late and when he opened the entrance to the dungeon, Armstrong was dead. His features were contorted with a look of horror and the flesh of his forearm had been gnawed away.
The ghost of Armstrong haunted the castle ever since with dreadful shrieks coming from the dungeon. As such a priest was brought in to exorcise the ghost, which he did with the help of a large black bible which he left in the building. However, years later after the ghost had been long forgotten, the bible was taken away for repair and immediately the shrieking resumed. The bible was hastily returned, and the fearful shrieking ceased.
It is said by some that Armstrong’s ghost still haunts the castle, his shredded arm limp by his side as he stalks the lonely depths of the dungeon.
Northumberland
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/lindisfarne-castle
Situated on a rocky mound, Lindisfarne Castle was built in the sixteenth century and is located on Holy Island, near Berwick-upon-Tweed. In 1542 Henry VIII ordered that the site be fortified against possible Scottish invasion and, as a result, a fort was built on Beblowe Crag, and this formed the basis of the present castle. Elizabeth I then carried out more work on the fort, strengthening its walls and providing gun platforms in 1570 and 1571. However, when James I came to power, he combined the Scottish and English thrones and the military status of the castle waned.
In the eighteenth century the castle was taken for a brief period by Jacobite rebels but was quickly recaptured by soldiers from Berwick. However, they managed to dig their way out of their prison and they hid for nine days close to nearby Bamburgh Castle before presumably escaping across the border. The castle is now a popular tourist attraction and can only be accessed from the mainland at low tide by means of a causeway.
In 635, St Aiden founded Lindisfarne Priory on Holy Island and in 664, St Cuthbert visited the island for the first time. In 685 he was consecrated as Bishop of Lindisfarne and when he later died, he was buried on the island. Some years later his casket was reopened and his corpse was apparently found not to have decomposed. As a result hundreds of people began to come to Lindisfarne as a pilgrimage. However, fearing Viking raiders, the body was relocated, as were other important relics.
These days there are reports of St Cuthbert’s ghost wandering the island dressed in simple robes. He has been seen in the grounds of the priory and the castle, as well as sitting by the shore making what is known as ‘Cuddy’s Beads’, fossilized sea lilies which were strung together and used as necklaces or, in some cases, rosaries.
St Cuthbert, however, is not the only ghost that has been seen on the island. There have also been reports of a Cromwellian soldier in the castle and apparitions of monks in the priory grounds. As well, it has been reported that a large white hound sometimes leaps from the castle and runs toward people before slinking back to the castle and disappearing.
Northumberland
www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/prudhoe-castle
Built on the site of a previous Norman motte-and-bailey, Prudhoe Castle is situated on the south bank of the River Tyne at Prudhoe, Northumberland. It was built sometime in the mid-eleventh century by Robert d’Umfraville who replaced the wooden palisade with a massive rampart of clay and stones and subsequently constructed a stone curtain wall and gatehouse. Later, in 1173 William the Lion of Scotland invaded the North East but the d’Umfraville family refused to support him. As a result the Scottish Army tried unsuccessfully to take Prudhoe Castle. The following year the castle was once again attacked but the garrison had been strengthened and once again the Scots were repelled.
Over the subsequent years it was occupied by the d’Umfraville family until 1398 when the castle passed to the Percy family who, apart from a period of time when it was forfeited to the Crown, lived there until 1536 although by 1537 it was reported as being in poor shape. The castle was again restored by Thomas Percy, the 7th Earl in about 1557. However, he was convicted of taking part in the Rising of the North in 1569, and although he escaped, he was recaptured and executed in 1572. After this, numerous persons tenanted the castle, but by 1776 it was reported as being ruinous.
Between 1808 and 1817, substantial repairs were made to the castle and in 1966 the castle was given to the Crown. It is now under the control of English Heritage and is open to the public.
The castle is reputed to be haunted by the ghost of a knight with a large beard as well the spirit of a Grey Lady. Who she is remains a matter of speculation although there is a road in a nearby estate named Grey Lady Walk as a reference to the ghost.
Interestingly, Prudhoe is said to have a secret underground passage linking it with Bywell Castle about three miles away. However, this means that at some point it would have to go under the River Tyne and as the tunnel has never been uncovered it is doubtful that it ever existed.
In November 2016, David Wilkins, took a number of photographs at the castle, and one showed a wispy white apparition that appeared to take the shape of a girl turning to face the camera. Photographs taken before and after show nothing more than the castle itself. David’s wife Brenda said of the photograph; “I had goosebumps the moment he mentioned it and as soon as I saw the picture I saw the little girl.”
County Durham
www.rabycastle.com
Constructed by John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville de Raby, between 1367 and 1390 near Staindrop in County Durham, Raby Castle was the birth place of Cecily Neville, the mother of Kings Edward IV and Richard III. An imposing fortress composed of a curtain wall with eight massive towers that surround the central keep, its original defensive purpose is evident in that the only entrance is through a fortified gateway accessed by a narrow path across a moat, although these days the moat has been converted to a lake and the curtain wall reduced to a simple parapet.
The Nevilles held the castle until 1569 when it was forfeited to the Crown following Neville support for the failed Rising of the North. The castle remained in Crown hands until 1626 when it was purchased by Sir Henry Vane the Elder, Treasurer to Charles I. Extensive alterations were carried out in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and, although a private home and the seat of the Vane family, it is a Grade I building and open to the public on a seasonal basis.
The ghost of Charles Neville, the Sixth Earl of Westmorland, has been seen on the staircase and in the Baron’s Hall where, in 1569, he met with the Percy family of Northumberland to plot the Rising of the North. Interestingly, although his ghost is said to haunt the castle, he is buried in Holland. It is said that his specter is angry at having lost his title, lands, and castle.
As well, an unidentified ghost has been seen entering the castle, vanishing as it reaches the gate, while a figure suspected to be Lady Barnard has been seen in the castle corridors at night, apparently knitting with white-hot needles, seething over the memory of her son Gilbert, who dared to marry against her wishes. She is said to be quite old looking with wild staring eyes that glow in the dark of night. When alive she was contemptuously known as Old Hell Cat, and in death it appears that she has not changed.
Another ghostly figure, this time a rather portly man, has been seen sitting at a desk in the library writing. However, his ghostly body ends at his shoulders and his head has been reported as lying on the table, it’s ghastly lips moving as if dictating a letter or relaying instructions. This gruesome apparition is said to be that of Sir Henry Vane the Younger who died at the age of forty-nine, executed after a trumped up treason charge. It is said that he protested loudly while awaiting execution, so loudly that the sheriff in charge of the grisly spectacle ordered that trumpets be blown to drown out his words. Is it possible that in death he continues to protest his innocence?
County Durham
www.celticcastles.com/castles/walworth-castle
Situated at Walworth in County Durham, Walworth Castle is a Grade 1 building that was completed around 1600 for Thomas Jenison, Auditor General of Ireland, probably by Thomas Holt, a seventeenth-century architect who designed a number of buildings at the University of Oxford. The east and west wings were rebuilt during the reign of Elizabeth I and in 1759 the north wing was rebuilt. It is believed that King James VI of Scotland stayed at the castle at one stage. During the Second World War it was used as a prisoner of war camp and later was used as a girl’s boarding school before being bought by the county council in 1950. It then opened as a hotel and has remained as such until the present.
The castle is reputed to be haunted by the ghost of a maid who fell pregnant to a lord of the manor at some time in the past. Instead of acknowledging the affair, the lord had the girl bricked up in a wall, where a spiral staircase was being renovated and it is believed that it is her ghost that is often seen walking along the corridor by the honeymoon suite as well as suddenly appearing from the wall by the staircase.
The ghost of another young woman has also been seen sitting in an armchair, however, it is unknown whether or not she is the same girl. There have also been reports of footsteps on the stairs leading to one of the turrets, guests experiencing someone sitting on the edge of their beds when no one is there, and chambermaids having their hair pulled.
Northumberland
www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places
/warkworth-castle-and-hermitage
A stunning and commanding ruined medieval building on a loop of the River Coquet, less than a mile from England’s north-east coast, it is thought to have been constructed by Prince Henry of Scotland in the mid-twelfth century. Located near the border of Scotland, the castle was often the subject of conflict and it switched ownership numerous times between the English and Scots.
In the late nineteenth century, it was refurbished and Anthony Salvin was commissioned to restore the keep. Alan Percy, 8th Duke of Northumberland, gave custody of the castle to the Office of Works in 1922 and since 1984 English Heritage has cared for the site, which is a Grade I building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Interestingly, JMW Turner painted a picture of the castle in 1799.
And with such a history, it is not surprising that the castle is considered haunted, even if only mildly so in comparison to other great stone structures that dot the landscape.
The ghost of Margaret Neville, known as the Grey Lady, has been seen drifting around one of the towers at Warkworth and the ghost of a young man has also been seen running along the castle walls. Who he is, no one knows. However, despite occasional visual ghostly activity, visitors to the castle seem more likely to encounter a disconcerting atmosphere and as Richard Jones notes in his book Haunted Castles of Britain and Ireland, “Its lower floors possess a distinctly chilling aura, and dogs show a marked reluctance to enter them; if they do, they become decidedly alarmed. Children entering its dark interior have also been known to fall under its strange spell, becoming silent and contemplative.”