ETAL CASTLE

Northumberland

Etal Castle and its close neighbour Ford Castle are the Castles closest to Flodden Field, so inevitably their histories are intertwined with each other and the Battle which took place there in 1513.

The Manners family lived here by 1179 and in 1341 Robert de Manners receive licence to crenellate his manor (only a few years earlier the Herons at Ford has received a similar licence). This work was finished before 1415 and took the form of a quadrangle with a strong gatehouse and corner towers.  The Manners and Heron families were great rivals and in 1428 the feuding erupted into violence.  Sir William Heron led an attack on Etal Castle and was killed in the process.  Some damage may have been done to Etal Castle at the time.  The Castle was also probably raided by the Scots soon after as it is described as a ruin by 1438.

The Manners left early in the 16th century and sold the Castle to the Collingwoods; and they held the Castle when King James IV took it in 1513 before the Battle of Flodden.  The Castle was probably slighted thereafter and 30 years later it was in a very poor condition (when ironically it was forcibly passed back to the Manners family, who were now Earls of Rutland).

Etal Castle is an English Heritage property today and houses a small exhibition on the Battle of Flodden Field.

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