Callaly Castle is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

and a substantial

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

to the north of the village of

Callaly Callaly is a village and civil parish in Northumberland, England. It is about to the west of Alnwick. The main A697 road (to Morpeth) is away. It is on the line of the Roman road linking the Roman forts of High Rochester to the west and Lear ...

, which is some to the west of

Alnwick Alnwick ( ) is a market town in Northumberland, England, of which it is the traditional county town. The population at the 2011 Census was 8,116. The town is on the south bank of the River Aln, south of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the Scottish bor ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

, England. It is situated near the site of a 12th-century

motte A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...

castle and an Iron Age

hill fort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

. A

pele tower Peel towers (also spelt pele) are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the English and Scottish borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, mainly between the mid-14th century and about 1600. They were free-standing ...

was built in the 14th or 15th century and this was subsequently incorporated, as the west wing, of a new house built by John Clavering in 1619. The first major additions were made in 1676 by architect

Robert Trollope Robert Trollope was a 17th-century English architect, born in Yorkshire, who worked mainly in Northumberland and Durham. His work includes: * Eshott Hall, about 1660 * Capheaton Hall, 1667-8 * Cliffords Fort, North Shields, 1672 * Callaly Castl ...

. In 1707 further alterations were made which more or less concealed all the earlier features. The gardens were reconfigured in 1770, possibly by one or more the

Kennedy Kennedy may refer to: People * John F. Kennedy (1917–1963), 35th president of the United States * John Kennedy (Louisiana politician), (born 1951), US Senator from Louisiana * Kennedy (surname), a family name (including a list of persons with t ...

brothers, leading gardeners and nurserymen, who created a similar three walled pleasure garden at

Croxdale Hall Croxdale Hall is a privately owned country mansion situated at Croxdale near Sunderland Bridge, County Durham. It is a Grade I listed building. Ownership The staunchly Roman Catholic Salvin family came to Croxdale by the marriage in 140 ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

for the Salvin family who were also Catholic and had family connections with the Clavering family. The castle was for many years the home of the Clavering family and incorporated a Roman Catholic chapel which was deconsecrated when the Claverings sold the property in 1877. Alterations were made in the 18th and 19th centuries followed by major restoration work by the new owner Alexander Browne in the 1890s. In 1987 it was divided into residential wings by the architect

Kit Martin Kit Martin CBE (born 6 May 1947) is a British architectural designer and country house property developer. Martin is the son of Sir Leslie Martin, Professor of Architecture at the University of Cambridge. Since the 1970s Martin has specialised in ...

References

English Heritage: architectural description of listed buildingCallaly Castle
*Fry, Plantagenet Somerset, ''The David & Charles Book of Castles'', David & Charles, 1980. {{Castles in North East England Castles in Northumberland Grade I listed buildings in Northumberland Hill forts in Northumberland