NORHAM CASTLE, DURHAM.
THE castle of Norham-upon-Tweed, “Old Norham,” the Queen of Border fortresses, and the most important stronghold between Carlisle and Berwick, was long the “Castle Dangerous” of that contested territory, and the strongest place on the Marches. It is a lasting monument of episcopal magnificence, founded, restored, and maintained by Flambard, Pudsey, and Beke, three of the most powerful prelates who sat in the chair of St. Cuthbert, and as an example of a great Norman keep is not unworthy to be named with Bamborough itself. The natural strength of the ground led to its early occupation for purposes of defence, and the traditions of Norham are in keeping with its architectural grandeur. Here the Roman legions paused in their progress northwards, and threw up earthworks which may still be recognised, and which were probably abandoned when, under the military occupation of the country, a permanent road was laid out a few miles to the eastward, near to the mouth of the river. An early settlement of the Saxon kings of Deira seems to have been on the steep side of Yevering Bell, the ancient Gebrium, a spur of the Cheviot range, about twelve miles south of Norham, where there yet remain formidable earthworks, which Mr. Raine regarded as traces of the residence of the celebrated Eadwine, King of Deira (585–633), the disciple and friend of Paulinus, but who derived his knowledge of Christianity and probably his taste for a hill residence from Cadvan of Gwynedd, by whom he was educated. Hence, in later times, his successors moved their seat to Millfield, a place near to the Till, and scarcely nine miles from Norham. Probably it was from here that the Saxon kings guarded the pass of the Tweed, then called Ubbanford; and it may well be that their handiwork remains in the banks and ditches, not to be confounded with the camp of the legions, but incorporated with the later castle, and which much resemble in their figure and strength other well-known residences of the ninth century. Here, near this “Northern home” of the successors of St. Cuthbert, Bishop Ecfrid of Lindisfarne founded the parish church dedicated to that saint, towards the middle of the ninth century, and placed in it the remains of Ceolwulph, king and saint. The two contiguous shires of Norham and Island, probably given by Oswald of Northumberland to Lindisfarne, are reputed the oldest possessions of the see of Durham, and detached from the body of the bishopric, presented a bold and strongly-fortified front of twelve miles, from Coldstream to Berwick, to the Scottish invaders. Early in the twelfth century arose the castle, of which the ruins are still so grand, and for the possession of which English and Scottish kings contended for centuries with varying success. The great Edward, “Malleus Scotorum,” made much use of Norham in his wars, and here, both in the church and in the castle, were assembled before him the competitors for the Scottish throne, of whom he selected one rather on the score of his subserviency than of his worthiness. It was also from Norham that Surrey and Dacre and the warders of the middle march directed that formidable raid which, following upon Flodden, carried fire and sword almost to the gates of Edinburgh. But although the broad stream of Tweed still flows at the base of the castle rock, and the scaurs and ravines that constituted the strength of the position still remain unaltered upon its southern frontier, all else is widely changed. The lofty, though ruined, battlements, rising far above the tufted trees, still, indeed, remain the landmark of the local shire, but they no longer look out over wasted lands and ruined villages, harried alternately by Englishman and Scot, “galling the gleaned land with hot assays.” In no part of Britain are the fields more skilfully cultivated, the rickyards more richly stored, the byres stocked with cattle of a higher breed, the farmhouses indicative of greater ease, or the agricultural labourer better able to care for his own interests. All shows plainly to the eye of the experienced traveller what has been achieved by the sturdy northern agriculturist, under the invigorating influence of an unfettered trade.
Norham occupies the hollow of a grand bend of the Tweed, which here cuts “a huge half-moon, a monstrous cantle,” out of the English bank to bestow it upon that of Scotland, in the form of a broad and fertile meadow. The castle stands upon a rocky platform, the south-western extremity of a cliff which forms the river bank for a considerable distance. A deep ravine cuts off the higher ground to the north-east, and is joined by a less marked depression, which, deepened by art, sweeps round and forms the southern defence until it opens upon the steep slope which descends to the river and forms the north and north-western front of the castle. Beyond this ditch, which contained the approach from the village of Norham, and more to the south, is a broad and level platform, also defended by deep ravines, upon which may be traced the remains of the Roman camp and the less regular banks and ditches of some of the besiegers of the castle. Both in its choice and in the manner of occupation of the position are shown much strategical judgment and engineering skill. It is both locally strong and well selected for the defence of St. Cuthbert’s and the Northumbrian frontier from Scottish inroads, as well as for the cutting off such invaders as, having advanced southwards, might be forced to retreat. The description of Simeon of Durham is both concise and accurate. Writing of Flambard, he says: “Condidit castellum in excelso præruptæ rupis super Tuedam flumen, ut inde latronum incursus inhiberet et Scottorum irruptiones. Ibi enim, utpote in confinio regni Anglorum et Scottorum, creber predantibus ante patebat excursus, nullo ibidem, quo hujusmodi impetus repellerentur, præsidio locato.”
The glories of Norham, indeed, have been honourably recorded in every stage of its stirring existence. Its sieges, misfortunes, reparations, and their particulars and cost, are entered in considerable fulness in the sheriffs’ accounts and in those of the Palatine see, and, finally, in its neglect and decay, it has been honoured with Scott for its poet and Raine for its historian.
The plan of the castle is irregular, following the general outline of the ground. Like Barnard Castle, its form is a sort of quadrant, the north and east faces 143 yards and 108 yards long, being nearly at right angles, and more or less straight, and the border to the south-west a curve of 223 yards, connecting the two sides. Of the area thus enclosed, the north-eastern portion is occupied by the upper or inner ward, the plan of which is roughly square, 57 yards east and west by 47 yards north and south, covering, therefore, within its walls 2,680 square yards. The north and east sides of this ward form part of the common curtain of the whole. In front of the other two sides is a broad and deep ditch, which extends from the eastern ravine to the northern steep, and is contained wholly within the outer ward, the available area of which is thus considerably reduced. The whole was contained within a curtain wall which, where it belonged to the inner ward, was high and strong, but where to the outer ward was unequal, being high where it crossed the ends of the inner ditch and along a part of the north front, but elsewhere either very low or of but moderate thickness. Most of the care of the engineer was lavished upon the inner ward.
NORHAM CASTLE.
Wyman & Sons, Gᵗ. Queen Sᵗ. London.
- Keep.
- Inner Ward.
- Ditch.
- Outer Ward.
- Entrenchments.
- Arches in Curtain.
The keep, the great, and, though a mere ruin, the best-preserved feature of the fortress, is rectangular, and measures at its base about 64 feet north and south by 86 feet east and west, and is or has been about 90 feet high. The walls range from 12 feet to 15 feet thick, and appear to be 8 feet to 10 feet at the summit, which is inaccessible. The east end is a part of the exterior line of defence, and ranges with the curtain. The south face looks into the outer, the two other faces into the inner, ward. The exterior faces have certain peculiarities. The south-east angle is capped by two pilasters, 11 feet broad and of slight projection, which, like the similar pilasters at Kenilworth, rise from a rough, bold, sloping plinth, 12 feet high, continued all along the east end. These pilasters have various sets-off reducing them to 10 feet at the summit. They meet at and cover the angle, which is solid. Near the centre of the east end is another somewhat similar pilaster, only 10 feet broad, and beyond this the wall has been pulled down to the first floor. The part left, forming the north-east angle of the keep, had no pilaster, but is bonded into the northern curtain, which is of its age. The southern curtain is not in the line of the keep, but sprung from its south face about 25 feet west of the south-east angle, where it is seen to have been 7 feet thick and of the height of the first floor of the keep, or about 30 feet. This also was of the age of the keep. The southern face of the keep, so far at least as its outer face is concerned, is of two dates. In the centre, but belonging to the eastern or older part, is a pilaster, 8 feet broad, but without setts-off. Between this and the south-east angle, above the curtain, and also without sett-off, is another pilaster, only 3 feet wide. A flat wall, without pilasters, but with two setts-off near the summit, occupies the next 36 feet westward. The base seems old, but the upper part is certainly later, into which the Decorated windows are probably insertions. Near the west end, about 16 feet from the angle, is a plain pilaster, 3 feet broad and 6 inches projection, which ascends to the second floor level, and stops at the cill of a small pointed doorway in the second floor; above this, in the two upper storeys, are two similar but rather smaller doors. It is probable that these opened from mural lobbies into garderobes of timber, projected from the wall: at least, it is difficult to suggest any other reason for doorways so placed.
The west face is all of one date; the doors and windows are of the Decorated period, but the wall itself is Norman. The curtain of the inner ward abuts upon the south-west angle, and is about 30 feet high and very thick, with a mural closet high up within it, which may be the garderobe, completed probably soon after 1431–2. There are two pointed doors, both at the ground level; one leading into the south chamber of the keep, the other, near the centre, into a well-stair, 10 feet diameter, which ascends in the wall to the summit, and terminates in a raised square turret, a marked feature in every view of the keep. Six loops, one over the other, show the line of this staircase, and a few feet from the top, and over the door, are four or five corbels, which evidently supported some kind of brétasche of timber to protect the doorway below. Above are various windows, three of two lights, trefoiled, square-headed, but Decorated, and others of one light, with square labels. Towards the south end of this front, at the first-floor level, is a large round-headed doorway, evidently the original main door of the keep, the outer stair leading to which is removed. No doubt this stair ascended from the north end, and the chamber in the curtain, now inaccessible, was either an oratory or a garderobe, opening from the vestibule before the door. This end, like the south, is tolerably perfect.
The north front is almost all removed. About 15 feet from the west end there remains one jamb of a door at the ground level. Beyond this, about 26 feet is level with the ground. The remainder, about 45 feet, remains to the level of the first floor, and is pierced by two loops from the basement.
The interior of the keep shows it to have contained a basement and four floors, the whole divided east and west, or longitudinally, from bottom to top, by a party wall 5 feet thick, of which only the lower part remains. The basement, at the ground level, is composed of a north and south chamber, each 60 feet long, the northern 20 feet and the southern 15 feet broad. The southern was divided by a cross-wall into two chambers, both barrel-vaulted, the western rather the longer. The eastern has a loop to the east, high up, set in a splayed, round-headed recess; and in the north wall is a door leading into the north chamber. In the south wall, here 12 feet thick, is a breach 8 feet wide, at the ground level, which probably represents a loop. The western chamber has a loop in the south wall, the recess of which runs into the barrel, producing a groin. In the west end is a doorway and passage through the wall, here 15 feet thick, and by its side a loop. There must have been a door between these southern chambers, in the cross-wall.
The northern chamber seems to have been one room only, broken into four compartments by groined vaulting, between each bay being a broad flat band. There is a loop at the east end, and two others near it, in the north wall. The two western bays are broken down. In the west wall is a loop, and near it, in the north wall, the jamb of a door of entrance, probably the stone doorway into the dungeon vault made in 1429–30, and fitted with an iron gate. This basement vaulting is about 10 feet high to the springing, and is original, as at Bamborough, Mitford, and Newcastle, and the walls and loops all round, seen from within, seem also original, and their interior face work is excellent open or jointed ashlar. The remains of the cross-wall show the first floor to have contained two chambers, both probably vaulted; the southern certainly so. Each was entered by a door from the western staircase. The north and much of the east wall of this north chamber is gone. In the west end is a Decorated window in a large round-headed recess, flat-sided, and near it the entrance from the staircase. In the east end was a loop in a splayed recess. The southern chamber was probably a lower and lesser hall. In its east end is a door from the well-stair, and another door, large and round-headed, once the main entrance. Against the south wall are seen the remains of the vault, of four compartments, groined, the bays divided by cross arches springing from corbels. In the most western bay was a fireplace; in each of the three eastern a round-headed window in a splayed recess. In the east end is a pointed recess and a large lancet window, the whole evidently an insertion. The height of this floor was about 12 feet to the spring of the vault.
NORHAM KEEP.
Wyman & Sons, Gᵗ. Queen Sᵗ. London.
BASEMENT.
The second was the floor of state, and, in the original keep, also the uppermost floor. The two rooms had low-pitched open roofs, of which the weather mouldings are seen, as at Porchester, in the end walls. These rooms were entered, each by its own door, from the well-stair, but the northern door has been built up and a loop placed in it. Of the north chamber there only remains a large window in the west wall, in a drop arch, a Decorated insertion. If there was any fireplace, it must have been in the dividing wall. The south chamber was evidently the great hall. In its east end is a large full-centred Norman recess, containing a Norman window. In the west wall, besides the staircase door, here pointed below a square label, is a pointed recess and window. In the south wall are two bold, round-headed recesses splayed to small lancet windows, and west of these a pointed door, probably entering a mural chamber, and communicating with the door already mentioned, in the outer face of the wall.
Originally there was no third floor, and to provide this the hall roof was removed, and for it substituted a flat ceiling supported by nine joists, the holes for which remain. On these were laid the planks of the third floor. Of this the north chamber had in its west end a segmented arched window recess and the staircase door, now blocked up. In the north chamber, west end, was a similar staircase door and a pointed window recess. The east wall was not pierced, neither was the south wall, save by one window, and near it a small pointed door, near the west end. The covering of this storey was composed also of nine joists, which carried the planks of the fourth floor.
Of this floor the remains are but slight. It also was composed of two chambers. Of the north the west wall remains, but it contains neither window nor staircase door. The south chamber has in its west end a window, and in its south wall a fireplace. Of this wall only about 6 feet in height remains, so that probably about 4 feet to 6 feet of its upper part is gone. Considering the thickness of the walls, the absence of mural chambers and galleries in this keep is remarkable.
The keep was certainly built originally by Ralf Flambard in 1121, and the eastern end and adjacent halves of the north and south sides were certainly of the same date. It is also pretty certain that Flambard’s keep was of the same size with the present one, and the whole basement, and the vaulting of the first floor, seems original. Probably there was but one entrance, that in the west end at the first-floor level, and there would be, in that case, an exterior tower or fore-building, covering the staircase, and of which there seem to be traces in the face of the curtain against which, as at Kenilworth, it must have abutted. The entrance is quite plain, and without a portcullis. Bishop Pudsey, who ruled from 1158 to 1174, is said to have rebuilt the western half of the ruined keep. Possibly he only restored it, for it is scarcely probable that half of so very substantial a building should have been pulled down, either with the means or in the time at the disposal of any band of invaders; still, it must be admitted, that the western half differs materially from the eastern. In the latter, the plinth is bold and high, and the pilasters marked features. In the western part are no pilasters, and no plinth of any consequence, and the setts-off of the wall are at a different height. If Bishop Pudsey rebuilt the western half, he did so in the late Norman style, so that the work harmonises inside with that of Flambard. Pudsey, no doubt, raised the walls somewhat, converted the ridge roofs of the second story into a flat covering, and, in the space thus gained and created, added two more floors, as was done to the extent of one floor, at Porchester, Kenilworth, and Richmond, and in many other Norman keeps.
In the Decorated Period great changes were certainly made. Doors were opened at the ground level in the north and west walls. The fore-building was removed, and in its stead a well-stair inserted in the centre of the west wall, so as to provide a new and convenient approach to each floor; and this was carried up to the end in a raised turret, adding somewhat to the view. The entrance to this staircase was at the ground floor on the outside, but it did not lead into the basement. The whole of the west wall and the contiguous half of the south wall were faced with ashlar, and window-cases of the period inserted. All this may well have been the work of Anthony Beke, “Presul Magnanimus,” called “the maist prowd and masterfull Busshop in all England,” in that period—
When valour bow’d before the rood and book,
And kneeling knighthood served a Prelate lord.
The window recesses all through the building are mostly in the Norman style, and therefore in almost every case much older than the windows which they contain.
The three ends of the curtain abutting on the keep are of the same workmanship with, and bond into it, and are about 30 feet high. That proceeding northwards is capped at the north-east angle by a stout bastion, with a salient angle of 110 degrees, two faces of 17 feet, and shoulders of 4 feet. This is evidently a rebuilding after the introduction of artillery, and probably the work of Sir George Bowes. This curtain is continued 30 feet further along the river face, and is thence broken down. The kitchen seems to have been in the angle, the hall next to it, and then the chapel, all built against the north curtain. The curtain now standing corresponds closely to what the survey of 1515 calls the long high wall from the Dongeon to the north-west end of the kitchen (44 yards long and 30 feet high, contremured, so as to be 28 feet thick). We are told that in 1551 the chapel was 30 feet by 18 feet, with walls 8 feet thick, and with a crypt below capable of stabling 20 horses, and a “closet” above, and that the battlements above this closet and of the long wall were of the same height, and so extended from the north-east angle of the keep round to its south-west angle. In Sir George Bowes’s very able report upon the castle, he advises strengthening this wall by filling the hall and other buildings with earth, and forming a hall in the first floor of the keep, which seems then to have been much such a ruin as at present. Passing to the south-west angle of the keep, whence springs the southern curtain of this inner ward, also 30 feet high and very thick, this is continued 50 feet, and then broken by a nearly rectangular bastion tower of 40 feet projection, and 30 feet breadth, the “little Bulwark” of 1551;—a Decorated insertion to give a flanking defence where it was much needed. In the rear of this tower, which probably was of the nature of a bastion, that is not higher than the curtain, are remains of buildings. Beyond it, a high bank of earth and rubbish marks the line, but conceals the remains of the rest of the curtain. In this bank, towards the west, a gap marks the position of the gatehouse. The well remains near the north-east corner of the ward, and indicates the general position of the kitchen.
The Outer Ward, or that part of the castle outside the ditch of the inner ward, is of a lunated figure, 50 yards at the widest part. This ditch was crossed at each end by the curtain. The lower part of the wall at the east end still remains, and is about 8 feet thick, and 30 feet high, pierced by a Norman arch, probably for a postern, as at Carlisle. The curtain along the northern front is gone. The slope is there very steep, and in Sir George Bowes’s time this was trusted to, and the wall was a mere low breastwork. More to the west, as far as the lower gatehouse, the wall has been rebuilt. It is in parts about 15 feet thick, and 10 feet high inside, and from 15 feet to 20 feet outside. It probably rests in part on a Norman foundation, but the superstructure looks Decorated or later. It was pierced by deep recesses 11 feet broad under a flat arch, splayed to a loop, and intended to flank the approach from the town to the outer gate. Three of these recesses remain, and probably there were two more.
The lower gatehouse is a rectangular block 40 feet long by 20 feet broad, and of 30 feet projection within the curtain. It is pierced by a passage 15 feet wide, reduced at each end and in the centre by gate piers to 12 feet. These piers carried ribs to stiffen the barrel vault of the passage. The arches were round-headed. There was no portcullis. In front of the gate, as at Tickhill, are two projecting walls, between which there was probably a drawbridge. There was an upper floor. This gatehouse is evidently Norman, and no doubt Flambard’s work.
From the gatehouse eastward for about 130 yards the curtain is represented by a high and steep bank of earth and rubbish, which, no doubt, contains its foundations. The ground rises, and the original bank, as well as the curtain upon it, were evidently raised to command the platform opposite and beyond the ditch, which seems to have been the favourite position for besiegers. The curtain recommences, and is continued for 80 yards along the high ground, forming the east end of the southern front. This part of the curtain is very curious, and not a little difficult to understand. Upon it are the remains of one, or perhaps two, polygonal bastions, but in the line of the wall, between them, are six round-headed arches of about 12 feet span, springing from square piers about 3 feet or 4 feet broad. Most of the masonry is so rough that it evidently was intended, as at Southampton Castle, to be covered with earth, though why, while the foundation was excellent, this mode of supporting the curtain should have been employed, is not clear; but the first, that is, the most western, of these arches is of ashlar, and seems to have been a gateway, and is probably the gateway mentioned in the history of the castle as having had its gates unskilfully hung upon gudgeons so placed that they could be lifted off from the outside. Beyond these arches and bastions the curtain makes a sharp turn, and proceeds northwards to 60 yards, to cross the ditch and join the keep.
In front of the lower gate is a small platform, beyond the ditch, and which was, no doubt, stockaded to cover the entrance and enclose the barriers.
The archway described as probably a gate may have been intended to facilitate the entrance of the villagers and their cattle, in the event of a raid. The outer ward was intended by Flambard, it is said, to afford this shelter, and the deep outer ditch was also so employed. In late times a complaint is made, that whereas formerly the castle ditch was, under all circumstances, a place of security for the villagers and their property, now they are attacked and captured by the Scottish rievers under the very walls of the fortress.
The southern and outer ditch is said to have been used as a mill-pool, its mouth being closed by a dam. This ditch is reputed to have been excavated in 1495; but though it may have been then deepened and a dam formed, it must always have been part of the original defence.
Although there is no record of any fortress or residence here before the time of Flambard, it is most probable, looking to the position and the earthworks, that it was so employed by the Saxon kings of Deira. These earthworks and the general treatment of the position are thoroughly English, just as the manner in which they are incorporated with the works in masonry is thoroughly Norman.
The authentic history of the castle begins with 1121, when Bishop Flambard is recorded by Hoveden to have commenced it. Probably Flambard’s keep much resembled in outline and dimension, save that it was from 10 feet to 20 feet lower, that we now see, and his inner and outer ward must necessarily have been the same with the present, and in great part within the existing walls. Fifteen years later, in 1136, the castle was taken by David, King of Scotland, and held for his niece, the Empress Maud, for some months, until, under a treaty with Stephen, it was restored to the bishop. David, however, again attacked and took it in 1138, when it is said to have suffered much injury, and to have been dismantled.
Bishop Hugh Pudsey, or Puisét, reputed to have been Stephen’s nephew, succeeded to the see of Durham in 1153, and probably at Stephen’s suggestion restored the keep. What he did it is very difficult to determine, since the lapse of forty years had not materially changed the style of architecture then in use, but whatever it was, it was confined to the western parts of the keep, and did not affect the eastern end. His funds were raised by the sending his archdeacon round the country provided with a fragment of St. Cuthbert’s winding-sheet, to be shown to subscribers only. Puisét’s labours were only too successful, for, being suspected of a leaning towards the party of Prince Henry and the Scots, he was called upon by Henry II. to give up Norham, together with Durham and Northallerton Castles, and did so in 1174–7, when his castellan, Roger de Conyers, was superseded by William de Neville. Soon afterwards, upon paying a fee of 2,000 marks, the castles of Durham and Norham were restored to the see: Northallerton had been destroyed. On the bishop’s death in 1195, Norham again fell into the king’s hands, and £29. 6s. 8d. was paid for its maintenance.
King John was here, it is supposed, four times during the vacancy of the see, and the consequent holding of the castle by the Crown. First, 4th August, 1209, the only visit recorded in his itinerary, when he was preparing to invade Scotland. He stayed at least three days, for, as Mr. Raine has pointed out, an instrument given in the “Fœdera,” as dated 7th August, Northampton, is clearly from Norham. A little later he seems to have negotiated a treaty here with William the Lion, which was confirmed at another meeting about November, 1211, when William brought his son Alexander to do homage. He is also said to have paid another visit. All that can be shown is, that in April, 1210, he was at Durham, and in 1213 at Warkworth, places within easy reach of Norham.
In 1215, the castle was besieged without success for forty days by Alexander, King of Scots, who thence advanced into England, leaving Norham and Bamborough unsubdued in his rear. He retired before John, whose followers harried the Scottish border up to Edinburgh.
Early in the reign of Henry II., in 1219, Norham was visited by Pandulf, the legate, who had recently consecrated Bishop de Marisco to the see. With him came Stephen de Segrave, on the part of England, and King Alexander, to settle disputes between the two kingdoms. On the bishop’s death, 1226, and even after the consecration of Bishop Poer, 1228, Norham was held by the Crown. In 1258, Robert Nevill of Raby was constable for the Crown. Bishop Anthony Beke succeeded to the see in 1283, and held it till 1310. He was rather a warrior and statesman than a priest, and bore a prominent part in Edward’s northern transactions. In May, 1291, Edward I. was at Norham, attended by a large muster of northern barons, to meet, hear, and decide between the claimants of the Scottish crown. Edward resided in the castle; the Scots were quartered at Ladykirk, then Upsetlington, beyond the Tweed. The proceedings were opened on the 10th of May with great state in the church of Norham, and in the same church, that now standing, Edward, on the 3rd June, received the recognition of his authority by the claimants. The court was then adjourned to Berwick, and Baliol, who was said to owe his selection to the bishop’s interest, rendered homage for Scotland at Newcastle. In 1296, Bishop Beke raised the banner of St. Cuthbert, and attended his sovereign into Scotland, at the head of 140 knights, 1,000 foot, and 500 horse, he himself leading them in armour. The roll of Caerlaverock describes him as—
Le noble eveske de Doureaume,
Le plus vaillant clerk de Roiaume.
These troops formed the van of the royal army, and penetrated as far as Aberdeen. He was present also in later campaigns, and in one was wounded. His power and arrogance were, however, too great for a subject, and excited the ill-will of Edward, whom, however, he survived, dying 1310. Beke was a magnificent builder, and it is probably to him that must be attributed the facing of the part of the keep which had been restored by Pudsey; and the insertion of the great well-staircase and Decorated window-frames. In 1314, the castle was conceded by Bishop Kellow to the Crown, and Edward II. is said to have executed some repairs there. In 1316 it was restored to the see. Norham had its full share of the troubles of the border during the weak reign of Edward II. Its captain, Thomas Gray, was twice besieged in form by the Scots, once by blockade for twelve months and once for seven months. On one occasion the outer ward was taken, but as, after three days’ possession, the enemy could produce no impression upon the inner ward, they retired from so dangerous a proximity. Later in the reign, 1322, it was taken, but recovered by Edward in person after a siege of ten days. In 1327, the night of the coronation of the new sovereign, it was near being taken by treachery, but the plot was frustrated by Thomas Manners, then captain. Edward II. is reputed to have executed great works at the castle.
Edward III. found Lewis Beaumont in the see of Durham. The bishop recovered Norham, though with some difficulty, but Barnard Castle remained alienated. In 1335, his successor, Bishop Bury, held an ordination at Norham.
In 1356, ten years after the battle of Nevill’s Cross, the Scots burned Norham, probably the village, and surprised the town, but not the castle, of Berwick, which held out till the arrival of Edward III. from Calais, when the affront was amply avenged, and Bishop Hatfield attested Baliol’s surrender of the crown at Roxburgh Castle in 1357. During the reigns of Henry IV., V., and VI., Norham was well maintained, and played a part in all the great transactions on the Border. The accounts kept by the Bishops of Durham are very copious, and contain many curious technical and local words. The outer bridge was repaired with timber in 1405, as was the roof of the Pex or Pox hall within the castle. A wheel was made for the well, with an axle, gudgeons, and a bucket. The great and other chambers and the kitchen were leaded. Mention is made of the chapel and of the chaplain. The nights being long and cold, extra wages were paid to the watchers, lights were allowed for the chapel, and repairs effected for the whole castle, excepting the great tower. In 1408, the west gate was wholly rebuilt in 298 days, at a cost of £37. 6s. 7d. This can scarcely be the lower or outer gate at the extreme west, which is much older, and was probably the inner gate, which is also to the west of the keep. “Les skafald” is mentioned, and a paling of wood round the tower. In 1422 was built the “new tower within the castle,” and in 1426–7 four iron doors were brought from the bishop’s forges at Auckland.
In 1429–30, during the episcopate of Cardinal Langley, “quædam nova latrina” was appended to the west side of the great tower, a work not completed in 1431–2. Also a great doorway in stone was made under the vault of the Dongeon of the great tower, probably the door in the north wall, of which one jamb remains. The doorway was fitted with an iron door. The draw-well had a new wheel, and a new horse-mill was constructed within the castle.
Hitherto the bishops, when in possession of the castle, had occupied it by their own officers, but in 1435 the cardinal introduced the practice of letting it for a term to some powerful captain who was bound to maintain and defend it, and received a good payment for so doing. This practice was found convenient, and resorted to not infrequently afterwards. The lessee seems sometimes to have been invested by the bishop with the offices of constable of the castle and sheriff and escheator of the see. Bishop Fox began his rule in 1495 by deepening the outer ditch, and, indeed, the aspect of the times rendered prudent all possible precautions for defence.
In that same year, Henry VII., alarmed at the reception of Warbeck in Scotland, prepared for war: a commission of array for the Marches was issued to the bishop, and Lord Surrey took the command north of Trent. King James crossed the Border from Scotland in two successive years, and in the second, 1497, appeared in person before Norham. It was strong and well garrisoned, and by some accounts the bishop threw himself into the fortress, within which shelter had been afforded to all the country round. During sixteen days of fierce assault the outer defences were much injured, but the place was not entered, and Surrey came to its relief. The bishop then laid aside the temporal arm and excommunicated Redesdale and Tynedale. In September, 1498, he was at Norham, and lifted his censure from the borderers who submitted. Hamerlin and Garth, his lieutenants, during the siege, were pensioned for their bravery in the defence.
In 1513, 22nd August, the year of Flodden, King James crossed the Tweed in force, and on the 29th Norham, imperfectly garrisoned, was surrendered to him and very roughly handled. The king then
Wasted his time with Heron’s dame,
while his army took Etal, Wark, and Heton, and the lesser holds of Tilmouth, Shoreswood, Twisel, Duddoe, and Thornton. This gleam of success was succeeded by the defeat of Flodden, after which, in 1514, Lord Dacre ravaged the Scottish border to beyond Borthwick. If the bishop’s garrison showed want of courage during James’s attack, the main body of the forces of the bishopric redeemed its character at Flodden, where they led the van under Sir William Bulmer. It was the last appearance of St. Cuthbert’s banner in the open field, and often as it had been displayed, it had never been attended by defeat. Bishop Ruthal once more put the castle in repair; the inner ward and the keep were made safe, and much money expended in masons’ and carpenters’ work on walls and roofs. The castle had been “prostratum et disruptum ad terram” by the Scots, a phrase which, however, is not to be taken literally. Bishops-Middleham is said to have been stripped for materials for Norham. By 1515 the castle was in order, victualled, and garrisoned. The walls were countermined as a precaution against “sawting,” or blowing up. The outer walls were buttressed and provided with “Murderers,” a well-known piece of ordnance of that day. When all was done, the masons were despatched to pull down Home Castle.
Nothing seems to have lasted very long at Norham, for William, Lord Greystoke, the captain, found the outer ward so ruined as to be defenceless. Its four towers were too low, but the inner ward was regarded, “with the help of God,” as impregnable. At this time the long wall between the inner gate and the nether gate next the water was ready to be embattled. The four towers were to be raised with ashlar, and quarry rubbish was ready to fill up three of them. Wolsey held the see from 1522 to 1528, but does not seem to have troubled himself about the castle.
About 1530 the Scots appeared before Norham, but the castle was saved by the valour of Archdeacon Franklin, who had a special coat-of-arms assigned to him by Henry VIII. for this service. At this time there was regular stabling for 60 horses, a byre for cattle, which, if necessary, could hold 50 more horses, and there was room beneath the chapel for another 20, or 130 in all. Besides stores of salt meat, fish, and grain, 6 fed oxen and 400 sheep lay nightly beneath the castle wall. The garrison was composed of 59 men, besides children. This state of defence was probably stimulated by a whisper of treason, which caused the Privy Council to direct the Duke of Norfolk “to look to it.” Bishop Tunstal seems to have maintained the defences during the reign of Mary.
In the next few years, however, great changes took place. In 1542, the castle was finally put in order by Bishop Tunstal; but in 1551 the bishop was deprived, and the castle was reported again to need repairs. The wall of the inner ward towards the Tweed was rotten, the water having got into it on the removal of the lead from the adjacent buildings, and in such a state that a very light battery on the Scots’ bank would suffice to bring it down with the hall and kitchen. Half the keep had some time since fallen. The reporter, Sir George Bowes, points out the weakness of the place, and then, at great length, how an old castle was to made defensible in modern warfare. He especially dwells on the absence of flanking works. The outer ward wall, on the east, west, and south, is old, thin, and weak, and its small ward towers badly placed as flankers. The north wall was a low parapet, and the outer ward gates so hung that they could be lifted from the outside. He advises filling hall and kitchen with earth to support the river ward wall, and constructing a hall in the ruins of the keep. He is said to have lowered the keep one storey, reserving only the stair turret as a look-out. Probably it was at this time that the north-east bastion was built, and the embrasures made in the outer ward wall.
In 1557 there was a fray in front of the castle, in the space between the bridge and the iron gate. There were but four men in the place. In 1559, Tunstal died, and the castle was finally and by law detached from the see of Durham and held by the Crown, Lord Hunsdon having a lease of it from Elizabeth. Lord Hunsdon’s representatives, the Careys, were induced by James to part with their lease to Home, Earl of Dunbar, in whose favour the property was converted into a freehold to be held by socage tenure of the Crown. As late, however, as 1583 it was kept up as a place of defence, probably for the police of the border, and had an establishment of a captain of horse, an ensign bearer, a trumpeter, a porter and assistant porter, a master-gunner, a quartermaster gunner, 16 gunners, a chaplain, and a surgeon, costing not less than £1,703. 6s. 8d. per annum.
The history of Norham Castle and Shire will be found given in great detail and with great accuracy in the history of North Durham, by the Rev. James Raine.