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- source: Family History Library Catalog
- the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia
Bamburgh Castle, on the coast at Bamburgh, Northumberland, England, is a Grade I listed building.
It may have been the capital of the British kingdom of the region from the realm's foundation in c.420 until 547, the year of the first written reference to the castle.
For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Bamburgh Castle.
A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Bamburgh Castle from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:
- "BAMBROUGH CASTLE, a township in Bambrough parish, Northumberland; on the coast, contiguous to Bambrough township, 5 miles E of Belford. Acres: 1,724; of which 1,134 are water. Population: 38. Houses: 5. A famous castle was founded here, about the year 554, by Ida, first king of Northumbria, consort of Queen Bebba; and gave rise to the adjacent town. The site of it is a rugged, triangular, basaltic rock, projecting into the sea, rising 150 feet above the watermark, and accessible only from the SE side. The original pile was formed chiefly of wood; yet made a great figure through out the troubled times of the Northumbrian kings. A stronger structure, with Norman tower and Norman keep, was built principally about 1070; and this acted a part in most of the contests which shook the country, down to the reign of Edward IV.; but sustained very severe injury in a siege after the battle of Hexham. It passed, along with the manor, by grant of the Crown in the time of James I., to the family of Forster; underwent forfeiture in 1715, on account of its owner, Thomas Forster, having joined the Pretender; and was purchased by that gentleman's maternal uncle, Lord Crewe, Bishop of Durham, and bequeathed by him, under trustees, for charitable uses. The structure, as it now stands, includes a space of eight acres, and contains stores, schools, and a public library for the benefit of the surrounding population, together with numerous, constant, effective appliances for the rescue and relief of shipwrecked mariners. The [Farne] islands, with accompanying rocks and shoals, so dangerous to navigation, are in the offing; and the appliances at Bambrough Castle are held in continual readiness, under resident managers and continual patrols, to afford succour to the endangered or the shipwrecked. The great tower commands an extensive view; and one of the apartments has some interesting portraits and four large ancient pieces of tapestry. Grace Darling, who acted so very heroically at the wreck of the Forfarshire steamer, lies interred in the neighbouring churchyard."
Bamburgh Castle was a separate township in the ancient parish of Bamburgh. It became a separate civil parish in 1866. From 1894 until 1955 it was part of Belford Rural District. Over the years it must have been slowly absorbed into Bamburgh, because in 1955 when the civil parish was abolished, its area of only 6 acres was absorbed into Bamburgh.
Research Tips
- Northumberland Archives previously known as Northumberland Collections Service and Northumberland County Record Office. Now based within Woodhorn Museum in Ashington and providing free access to numerous records for local and family historians alike.
- Full postal address: Museum and Northumberland Archives, Queen Elizabeth II Country Park, Ashington, Northumberland, NE63 9YF; Phone: 01670 624455
- There is a branch office in Berwick upon Tweed.
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