Widdrington Castle is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and the site of a former medieval

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...

and castle at

Widdrington, Northumberland Widdrington is a village and (as Widdrington Village) a civil parish in the county of Northumberland, England. It borders Tritlington and West Chevington and East Chevington parishes to the north, the North Sea to the east, Cresswell and Ellin ...

, England of which only earthworks now remain. The location is within a mile or so of the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

. The property was owned by the Widdrington family from the 12th century. In 1341 Gerard Widdrington was granted a licence to

crenellate A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

the house, which was later rebuilt in the early 17th century as a manor house. Engravings show a substantial tower with bartizans (projecting turrets) at the corners, similar to the surviving structure at nearby Belsay Castle. The Scottish lord Claud Hamilton was an exile at the castle in 1583. At the

Union of the Crowns The Union of the Crowns ( gd, Aonadh nan Crùintean; sco, Union o the Crouns) was the accession of James VI of Scotland to the throne of the Kingdom of England as James I and the practical unification of some functions (such as overseas dip ...

James VI and I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

came to Widdrington on 8 April 1603.

Anne of Denmark Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional fo ...

and her children stayed in the castle on their way to London on 7 June 1603.''HMC Salisbury Hatfield'', vol. 15 (London, 1930), p. 126. William Widdrington married the heiress of

Blankney Hall Blankney is a village and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 251. The village is situated approximately south from the city and county town of Linco ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

in 1643 and the castle ceased to be the main family residence. The estates of a later William Widdrington were sequestrated, and sold by the Crown, as a result of his attainder for treason for his part in the

Jacobite rising of 1715 The Jacobite rising of 1715 ( gd, Bliadhna Sheumais ; or 'the Fifteen') was the attempt by James Edward Stuart (the Old Pretender) to regain the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland for the exiled Stuarts The House of Stuart, ori ...

. The castle was reported to be in a ruinous condition in 1720. New owners began a rebuild in 1772 but the structure was destroyed by fire. A second attempt at reconstruction was more successful but the new Gothic-style castle was demolished in 1862.

References

Widdrington CastleKeys to the Past Lost Castles
{{Castles in North East England Castles in Northumberland Scheduled monuments in Northumberland Buildings and structures demolished in 1862