Bamburgh Castle
Northumberland, England (15 castles)
Stone
Excellent remains
Only open at certain times
The following centuries saw destruction and reconstruction at the castle due to internal conflicts in Northumbria but also from the Vikings who attacked the north east coast stealing from the vunerable monasteries and murdering the monks. After the Norman Invasion Bamburgh played an important part in protecting England from the Scots and major rebuilding work took place to improve the defences of the castle. In 1164 during the reign of King Henry II a large square Norman keep known as the 'Great Tower' was built at the castle at the cost of four pounds and over the next few centuries the castle was visited by all the English kings.
The War of the Roses saw the end of Bamburgh Castle's power when a siege was ended with the use of cannons, the first English castle to fall in this way. The following centuries saw the decline of the castle's fabric as repair costs grew too much for the private owners to afford. This state of disrepair lasted until 1894 when the castle was bought by Lord Armstrong who began restoration work to convert the remains into a private mansion. The results of his and successors work is what you see today when you visit Bamburgh castle.
Location
See Also
People
Related Information
Related Maps
Related Episodes
Edward II and Piers Gaveston (click here)
Wars of the Roses Phase Three (click here)
Explore the White Tower
Explore four floors of the keep at the Tower of London.
More Details >>
Medieval Town - Early Access
Explore the medieval town.
TimeRef Medieval Shield Designer
Design you own Medieval Shield.
Shield Designer >>
Medieval Village - Early Access
Explore the medieval village.
Medieval Abbey - Early Access
Explore the medieval abbey.
Medieval Theatre - Early Access
Explore the medieval theatre.
Timeline
1164
...
A large Norman square keep was built as Bamburgh castle as the cost of four pounds.
1311
July
Edward II left Scotland and returned to England to attend a session of Parliament. Gaveston was left behind at Bamburgh Castle where he was relatively safe from the Lords Ordainers. [1]
1462
October 25
Queen Margaret landed near Bamburgh Castle on the Northumbrian coast with a small army. The main castles in the area, Alnwick, Bamburgh and Dunstanburgh surrendered to the Queen. [2]
December
The Earl of Warwick was put in charge of capturing the castles from the Lancastrian garrisons. Edward had to stay at Durham to recover from a bout of the measles. The castles were not attacked but cut off from supplies to starve the soldiers out. Just before the new year the Lancastrian soldiers surrendered and the Yorkists took control of Bamburgh and Dunstanburgh Castles. Warwick used the castle at Warkworth as his base while he monitored the sieges at the other castles. The seige of Alnwick Castle continued into January. [3]
1463
March
Sir Ralph Percy, the constable in charge of Bamburgh and Dunstanburgh castles, defected and allowed the Lancastrians to take control. Alnwick Castle fell to the Lancastrians shortly afterwards.
Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset and Lancastrian supporters rebelled against Edward and used Bamburgh Castle as a base.
1464
June 23
After the Lancastrians were defeated at the Battle of Hexham their power in Northumberland was at an end. The Earl of Warwick accepted the surrender of Alnwick Castle on June the 23rd. Dunstanburgh Castle surrendered shortly afterwards. The siege at Bamburgh Castle was brought to an end with the use of cannons, the first castle to fall in such a way. [3]
TimeRef Shield Designer
Use this medieval shield designer to create your coat of arms. Click the image below to start your design.
3D Virtual Reconstructions
Transport yourself back up to a thousand years and explore historical buildings as they may have appeared in the past. Built using the popular game development tool Unity 3D, these reconstructions will run in the most of the popular web browsers on your desktop or laptop computer.
Learn More
Medieval people
Uncover the lives of the hundreds of kings, queens, lords, ladies, barons, earls, archbishops and rebels who made the medieval people an exciting period of history to live through.
Page Navigation
Selection of references used:
Explore all four floors of the White Tower at the Tower of London using the Unity 3d game engine.
Instructions
Medieval Heraldry
Learn about medieval shield design.
Details
Design your own medieval Coat of Arms.
Design your shield
Adventure Game - Early Access
Early Access to the TimeRef card-based Adventure Game.