Naworth Castle
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Naworth Castle, also known or recorded in historical documents as "Naward", is a
castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
in
Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...
, England, near the town of
Brampton Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#Lower-tier municipalities, lower-tier municipalit ...
. It is adjacent to the A69, about east of Brampton. It is on the opposite side of the
River Irthing The River Irthing is a river in Cumbria, England and a major tributary of the River Eden. The name is recorded as Ard or Arden in early references. For the first 15 miles of its course it defines the border between Northumberland and Cumbria. ...
to, and just within sight of,
Lanercost Priory Lanercost Priory was founded by Robert de Vaux between 1165 and 1174, the most likely date being 1169, to house Augustinian canons. The priory is situated at the village of Lanercost, Cumbria, England, within sight of Naworth Castle, with which ...
. It was the seat of the
Barons Dacre Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...
and is now that of their
cognatic Cognatic kinship is a mode of descent calculated from an ancestor counted through any combination of male and female links, or a system of bilateral kinship where relations are traced through both a father and mother. Such relatives may be known ...
descendants, the
Earls of Carlisle Earl of Carlisle is a title that has been created three times in the Peerage of England. History The first creation came in 1322, when Andrew Harclay, 1st Earl of Carlisle, Andrew Harclay, 1st Baron Harclay, was made Earl of Carlisle. He h ...
. It is a Grade I listed building.


History

The castle is thought to have late 13th-century origins, in the form of a square
keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...
and bailey. It was first mentioned in 1323, and in 1335, a
licence to crenellate In medieval England, Wales and the Channel Islands a licence to crenellate (or licence to fortify) granted the holder permission to fortify his property. Such licences were granted by the king, and by the rulers of the counties palatine within the ...
was granted to Ralph Dacre. Thomas Dacre (1467–1525), who commanded the reserve of the English army at the
Battle of Flodden The Battle of Flodden, Flodden Field, or occasionally Branxton, (Brainston Moor) was a battle fought on 9 September 1513 during the War of the League of Cambrai between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, resulting in an English ...
and was known as "the Builder Dacre", built the castle's gateway and placed over it his
coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...
with the Dacre family motto below: ''Fort en Loialte'' (
Norman-French Norman or Norman French (, french: Normand, Guernésiais: , Jèrriais: ) is a Romance language which can be classified as one of the Langues d'oïl, Oïl languages along with French language, French, Picard language, Picard and Walloon language, ...
: "Strong in Loyalty"). It is likely that the 18th-century
walled garden A walled garden is a garden enclosed by high walls, especially when this is done for horticultural rather than security purposes, although originally all gardens may have been enclosed for protection from animal or human intruders. In temperate c ...
lies within the boundaries of the original
moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...
. In June 1568, when
Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...
was at
Carlisle Castle Carlisle Castle is a medieval stone keep castle that stands within the English city of Carlisle near the ruins of Hadrian's Wall. First built during the reign of William II in 1093 and rebuilt in stone under Henry I in 1122, the castle is over ...
, it was mentioned that "Naward Castle is moated about, and much stronger for her detention". Although Naworth was "strong, and fit" for Mary, there was no store of wine and beer at the castle. Further additions were made in 1602 for
Lord William Howard Lord William Howard (19 December 1563 – 7 October 1640) was an English nobleman and antiquary, sometimes known as "Belted or Bauld (bold) Will". Early life Howard was born on 19 December 1563 at Audley End in Essex. He was the third son o ...
. He purchased back the Dacre family estate from King James and took up residence with his children and grandchildren at Naworth Castle. He restored the castle, improved the estate and established order in that part of the country. He had a large family of children, of whom Philip, his heir, was the grandfather of
Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Carlisle Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Carlisle (162824 February 1685) was an English military leader and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1653 and 1660 and was created Earl of Carlisle in 1661. Howard was the son and ...
, and his younger son Francis was the ancestor of the Howards of Corby.
William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...
, the artist and socialist, stayed at the castle in August 1874. In a letter to Aglaia Coronio, he writes "...all is very pleasant. Ned & I pass our mornings in a most delightful room in one of the towers that has not been touched since William Howard of Queen Elizabeth's time lived there: the whole place is certainly the most poetical in England." From 1939 to 1940, Naworth was occupied by
Rossall School Rossall School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for 0–18 year olds, between Cleveleys and Fleetwood, Lancashire. Rossall was founded in 1844 by St Vincent Beechey as a sister school to Marlborough College ...
from
Fleetwood Fleetwood is a coastal town in the Borough of Wyre in Lancashire, England, at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 25,939 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census. Fleetwood acquired its modern character in the 1830 ...
in Lancashire, which had been evacuated from its own buildings by various government departments. It is currently occupied by the Hon. Philip Howard, younger brother and
heir presumptive An heir presumptive is the person entitled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir apparent or a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question. ...
of the 13th Earl of Carlisle.


1844 fire

On Saturday, 18 May 1844, the castle caught fire, possibly as a result of the ignition of some soot in the flue of the Porter's Lodge. The structure's lack of internal walls allowed the fire to spread rapidly, and it remained unchecked until it reached the northern wing. Although some property was saved, by the time two fire engines had arrived by train from
Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...
, most of the roof had collapsed and the fire had spread to nearly every room on the three sides of the quadrangle. Water had to be passed in buckets from a rivulet at the foot of a steep hill on the north side of the castle. "Belted Will's Tower" was saved, while the fire continued until around one o'clock on Sunday morning, when it was brought under control. Subsequent restoration was undertaken by the architect
Anthony Salvin Anthony Salvin (17 October 1799 – 17 December 1881) was an English architect. He gained a reputation as an expert on medieval buildings and applied this expertise to his new buildings and his restorations. He restored castles and country ho ...
.


Miscellanea

*The castle has a well-preserved
priest hole A priest hole is a hiding place for a priest built into many of the principal Catholic houses of England, Wales and Ireland during the period when Catholics were persecuted by law. When Queen Elizabeth I came to the throne in 1558, there were se ...
. *
Francis Galton Sir Francis Galton, FRS FRAI (; 16 February 1822 – 17 January 1911), was an English Victorian era polymath: a statistician, sociologist, psychologist, anthropologist, tropical explorer, geographer, inventor, meteorologist, proto- ...
is said to have invented the concept of
correlation In statistics, correlation or dependence is any statistical relationship, whether causal or not, between two random variables or bivariate data. Although in the broadest sense, "correlation" may indicate any type of association, in statistics ...
at Naworth Castle.Life of Francis Galton by Karl Pearson Vol 2, p. 393
/ref> * Sir
Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...
described the castle as:
"one of those extensive baronial seats which marked the splendour of our ancient nobles, before they exchanged the hospitable magnificence of a life spent among a numerous tenantry, for the uncertain honours of court attendance, and the equivocal rewards of ministerial favour."


See also

*
Grade I listed buildings in Cumbria There are over 9000 Grade I listed buildings in England. This page is a list of these buildings in the county of Cumbria, sub-divided by district. Allerdale Barrow-in-Furness Carlisle ...
*
Listed buildings in Brampton, Carlisle Brampton, Carlisle, Brampton is a civil parish in Cumbria, England. It contains 84 Listed building#England and Wales, listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, four are listed at Grade I, the h ...
*
Castles in Great Britain and Ireland Castles have played an important military, economic and social role in Great Britain and Ireland since their introduction following the Norman invasion of England in 1066. Although a small number of castles had been built in England in the 10 ...
*
List of castles in England This list of castles in England is not a list of every building and site that has "castle" as part of its name, nor does it list only buildings that conform to a strict definition of a castle as a medieval fortified residence. It is not a li ...


References


External links

{{commons category, Naworth Castle
Naworth Castle
Country houses in Cumbria Castles in Cumbria Grade I listed buildings in Cumbria + Grade I listed castles Brampton, Carlisle