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PRUDHOE CASTLE

Northumbria

Prudhoe Castle, Northumbria

Prudhoe Castle is quite a hard one to "get a handle on".  It is quite large, and yet doesn't stick in the memory for any particular reasons.  Perhaps it is just that there are so many Castles in the area that one gets a little bit mixed up which is which.  Prudhoe is certainly the best of the Castles along the line of Hadrian's Wall.

The first Castle was founded by Robert de Umfraville (for the other main Umfraville Castle, see Harbottle Castle).  However, no mention is made of it in records until 1173 and 1174 when it was unsuccessfully sieged twice by the Scots.  It was thereafter rebuilt by Odinel de Umfraville who probably shifted the emphasis from the keep to the Gatehouse and barbican which are certainly the dominant feature of the Castle today; in fact Prudhoe Castle probably possesses one of the most archetypical Gatehouse/Barbican set ups of any English Castle.

In 1381 the Castle passed to the Percy family, although it was confiscated in 1405 and briefly became the property of the Dukes of Bedford.  In 1441 the Percys regained the Castle until the 11th Earl chose the wrong side (again) at the Battle of Towton (1461).  Once again Prudhoe was confiscated (and granted to the Duke of Clarence this time) but it was restored once more to the Percys in 1470 and it remained their property until it was bequeathed to the King (along with most of their other properties) by the 15th Earl in 1537.

By the time it was restored to the Percys again (in 1557) it was already in a poor state and the Percys really weren't interested, preferring to concentrate on Alnwick instead.  They rented the Castle out to a succession of disinterested owners and it slowly fell into disrepair.

Today the Castle is owned by English Heritage.

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2019


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