Trifter

WARKWORTH Castle is one of the many castles in Northumberland. It belonged to the Percy Family, Earls and later Dukes of Northumberland and was the favourite residence of Sir henry (Harry Hotspur) Percy. It is still owned by the Duke of Northumberland, though it is in the care of English Heritage.

Warkworth Castle was originally granted to the Percy Family by Edward III in 1332. It appears frequently in Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 and the Bard once refers to it as worm-eaten hold of ragged stone. Warkworth Castle and its beach are still used as backdrops for films.

It was first built in 1292 to cover the crossing of the River Coquet as it curls around the base of the castle peninsular.  Warkworth Castle is possibly the finest example of a noble family’s fortified residence in the country.

The original keep was later surrounded by a curtain wall with a series of towers, which made two complete fortifications. A fortified bridge, comparatively rare in England, further protected the river crossing to the north. The massive 13th Century gatehouse would have both impressed and deterred medieval visitors.

A striking effect is still realised on passing through this gateway. The visitor or intruder is in an open space that is totally dominated by the keep and the Lion, Grey Mare’s Tail, Montague, Carrickfergus and West Postern Towers.

Algernon Percy, 4th Duke of Northumberland, commissioned architect Anthony Salvin to draw up plans for the restoration of the keep during the mid 1850s. Only three rooms were completed and these are now open to the public.

The 4th Duke, who was an avid art collector and connoisseur filled these rooms with tapestries and covered the walls with leather before furnishing them with replications of Elizabethan and Jacobean furniture. Many of these pieces were to large to be manhandled up the spiral staircase. These were sawn in halve and reassembled in the rooms.

A succession of later dukes used Warkworth Castle and these rooms to entertain guests on excursions from the main family seat at neighbouring Alnwick Castle. This custom continued until 1987 when the castle passed into the trusteeship of English Heritage.

Warkworth Castle is open to the public between 10:00 and 18:00 daily from April to September, 10:00 to 16:00 daily in October and 10:00 to 16:00 on Saturdays to Mondays between November and March. More details can be obtained from 016665 711423.

An interesting adjunct to Warkworth Castle is the Hermitage. It is reached by a rowing boat ferry which leaves from a boarding point just below the castle. The Hermitage, on the opposite of the river, is a remarkable place consisting of two chambers that have been carved into the living rock.

The chapel has columns and ceiling ribbing that have been hewn from the rock. There is an altar with a quatrefoil window. It has a rock basin for the hermit to perform hid ablution before saying mass and a well-worn stone carving of the nativity.

The doorway leading o the sacristy is topped by a shield bearing the instruments of the Passion. The hermit would store his sacred vessels in the two cupboards that have been cut into the north wall. There is a second altar in the sacristy.

Often the Percy Family and their establishment would join the hermit in prayer, listen to him preach or make their confessions to him.

His annuity during the 15th Century was 66 shillings and eight pence (£13.33) with enough pasture for 12 cattle, one bull and two horses. The lord would send him fish every Sunday and 20 loads of firewood for cooking and heat each year. The hermit had a kitchen garden at what is still a beautiful stretch of the river.

Visitors can take the boat over the Coquet to the Hermitage between 11:00 and 17:00 on Wednesdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays from April until September.

St Lawrence’s Parish Church in Warkworth stands on what has been a religious site since the 8th Century.

The south aisle was built by the Percy Family during the 15th Century and the beams of the original lead roof are still visible.

However there is Norman stone vaulting in the chancel roof and pieces of even earlier crosses, including some carved chainwork, dating back to the original church are on display.

The Nave at 90 at 90 feet long is the longest Norman nave in Northumberland. The tomb and effigy of a knight, Sir Hugh, who was probably a member of the castle garrison is in the church.

Jacobite rebels proclaimed the Old Pretender as King in the north outside the church in 1715.