Alnwick Castle: A Medieval Anglo-Scottish Frontier Fortress
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- High
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- British, English, Norman
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page19 sections
History
Alnwick Castle is a medieval fortress in Alnwick, United Kingdom, established by Norman rulers and nobles after the Norman Conquest. Its earliest development began around 1096 under Ivo de Vesci, Baron of Alnwick, as a stronghold guarding the principal north-south route across the River Aln. Rebuilt in stone in 1157, it later became a major fortress on the Anglo-Scottish frontier and remains the seat and residence of the Percy family.
Norman foundation and Scottish attacks
The site was drawn into conflict before Ivo de Vesci began developing the castle. In 1093, Malcolm III of Scotland invaded northern England in an attempt to recover Northumberland from William II. His army reached Alnwick in November and besieged the castle. Robert de Mowbray led a small force from Bamburgh in a surprise attack, during which Malcolm was killed outside the walls.
After Robert de Mowbray’s failed rebellion against William II in 1095, Alnwick returned to royal control. William granted it to Ivo de Vesci in 1096, and the de Vesci family held the castle through the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Alnwick was first recorded in 1136, when David I of Scotland captured it and described it as “very strong.” William the Lion of Scotland besieged it in 1172 and again in 1174. During the second campaign, an English relief force led by Ranulf de Glanvill attacked the Scottish army, and William was captured outside the castle at the Battle of Alnwick.
The de Vesci barony
The castle’s owners remained involved in the political struggles of the English crown. Eustace de Vesci, lord of Alnwick, was accused in 1212 of plotting against King John and supporting Alexander II of Scotland. John ordered the castle to be destroyed and burned, but the order was not carried out. Eustace later became one of the barons who compelled John to accept Magna Carta in 1215.
When John de Vesci inherited his father’s titles and estates in 1253, the de Vesci properties were placed under the guardianship of Antony Bek, Bishop of Durham. Bek sold them to the Percy family in 1307, ending the de Vesci period and beginning the long Percy association with Alnwick.
The Percy fortress
Henry de Percy began rebuilding the modest stone castle soon after acquiring it. His son, also Henry Percy, continued the work, creating a powerful fortress suited to the Anglo-Scottish border. The Percy builders combined defensive requirements with residential and domestic accommodation, producing a palace-fortress of the type that developed in northern England during the fourteenth century.
Henry Percy died in 1314 after being captured and held for ransom following the English defeat at Bannockburn. In the border wars that followed, Alnwick served as an operational base. In 1346, another Henry Percy commanded the English right wing at the Battle of Neville’s Cross, where David II of Scotland was defeated and captured. The family acquired Warkworth Castle in 1345. Although Alnwick was considered the more prestigious castle, Warkworth became the preferred Percy residence.
The Percys were also involved in the overthrow of Richard II. Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, supported Henry Bolingbroke in 1399, after which Bolingbroke became Henry IV. Percy later rebelled against the new king. After his son Harry Hotspur was defeated at Shrewsbury in 1403, royal forces besieged Alnwick and forced its surrender under threat of bombardment. The Crown confiscated the castle, but it was returned to the Percy family in 1413.
The town and the Wars of the Roses
Alnwick’s frontier position affected the neighboring town as well as the castle. Scottish forces attacked and burned the town in 1424. Henry VI granted it a licence to build town walls in 1433, but financial difficulties delayed construction until the 1470s. The Scots attacked again in 1448 while the walls were being built.
The Wars of the Roses were fifteenth-century struggles between the Lancastrian and Yorkist factions for the English throne. The Percy family supported the Lancastrian cause, and Alnwick became one of three principal castles used to defend the eastern border and bring reinforcements from Scotland. It surrendered to Edward IV’s Yorkist forces after the Battle of Towton in 1461, changed hands repeatedly between 1461 and 1464, and returned to the Percys during the following decade after the 4th Earl of Northumberland pledged allegiance to Edward IV.
Neglect and renewed residence
Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland, joined the Northern Rebellion against Elizabeth I in 1569. He fled to Scotland, but James VI of Scotland sold him back to England, and he was executed at York in 1572. His titles and property, including Alnwick, passed to his brother Henry. Henry preferred Warkworth, and Alnwick consequently became increasingly neglected and uninhabited.
The union of the English and Scottish crowns followed in 1603, when James VI of Scotland succeeded Elizabeth I as James I of England. With the border no longer separating two independent kingdoms, Alnwick’s military role became less necessary. The town prospered through trade along the Great North Road, while its walls became redundant and were dismantled so their stone could be reused. The East Gate, also known as Bondgate Tower, survived because it was used as a prison.
Oliver Cromwell used Alnwick Castle to house prisoners after the Battle of Dunbar in 1650. In the eighteenth century, the Percy family returned to Alnwick, and Hugh Percy, Earl of Northumberland, made it a principal residence. James Paine, Robert Adam, and Daniel Garrett altered the castle during the second half of the century, while Lancelot Brown and Thomas Call landscaped the parks. In 1766, George III made Hugh Smithson and Elizabeth Seymour the first Duke and Duchess of Northumberland. Their work at Alnwick partly influenced restorations at Windsor Castle.
Victorian remodelling and modern use
During the nineteenth century, Algernon Percy, 4th Duke of Northumberland, commissioned Anthony Salvin to remove much of the eighteenth-century work and remodel the castle in a more convincingly medieval Victorian style. The principal campaign took place between 1854 and 1865. Luigi Canina later redecorated the main public rooms in an opulent Italianate style.
The Percy family has retained ownership since the early fourteenth century. Alnwick remains the seat and residence of Ralph Percy, 12th Duke of Northumberland, and his family, who occupy only part of the castle. Northumberland Estates also uses the complex for offices. During the Second World War, Newcastle Church High School for Girls was evacuated there. From 1945 to 1977, the castle housed Alnwick College of Education, a teacher-training college. Since 1981, part of the building has been used by St. Cloud State University of Minnesota as a branch campus for its International Study Programme.
Alnwick Castle is a Grade I listed building, while its associated park and garden are also registered at Grade I on the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. These designations recognize the national importance of the surviving castle complex and its designed landscape. The castle has also served repeatedly as a film and television location. Its use as Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films increased public interest and influenced popular ideas about the appearance of castles. Other productions filmed there include Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Elizabeth, Becket, The Black Adder, The Virgin Queen, The Hollow Crown, Downton Abbey, Transformers: The Last Knight, and Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves.
Remains
Alnwick Castle overlooks the road crossing the River Aln. The river runs along the north side, while a deep ravine to the south and east separates the castle from the town. By the twelfth century, the castle had acquired the general arrangement it retains today: a central shell keep, meaning a fortified enclosure with buildings set against a strong outer wall around a courtyard, surrounded by a larger bailey and a second defensive ring.
The central shell keep
Gateway and courtyard
The central shell keep contains the principal rooms and an inner courtyard. Its elaborate Romanesque gateway is flanked by two semi-octagonal towers added in the fourteenth century to strengthen the entrance. Medieval arches survive above the well and gateway, while most of the remaining interior work belongs to Anthony Salvin’s nineteenth-century remodelling.
Keep towers and later additions
Alnwick’s central structure has ten closely spaced towers rather than the single solid central tower associated with some castles. Two flank the entrance, three date from fourteenth-century work, and the others were built or rebuilt during Salvin’s nineteenth-century campaign. Salvin also added the large Prudhoe Tower at the north-west corner of the small courtyard, with a loggia at ground level.
The outer bailey
Outer towers and gates
The central keep stands inside a large bailey enclosed by a second defensive ring. Its ten principal towers are the Postern Tower, Constable’s Tower, Record Tower, Warder’s Tower, Middle Gatehouse, Auditor’s Tower, Clock Tower, Main Gatehouse, Abbot’s Tower, and Falconer’s Tower. Most belong to fourteenth-century work. Some are D-shaped to resist attack, while rectangular towers provided additional accommodation. The Constable’s, Warder’s, Clock, and Falconer’s Towers were rebuilt, while the Abbot’s Tower, Middle Gateway, and Constable’s Tower retain elements from the Percy building campaign.
The Main Gatehouse and inner gateway are defended by semi-octagonal towers. A long barbican, an outer defensive work protecting an entrance, formerly stood before the Main Gatehouse. Three smaller turrets supplement the principal towers: Hotspur’s Chair on the east side, named after Harry Hotspur, and the West Garret and Aveners’ Towers on either side of the Main Gatehouse.
Walls, terraces, and service yards
Because the central block could not contain the later residential, service, and domestic requirements, a long range of buildings was constructed along the south wall of the bailey. A linking building joins the principal residential accommodation to these service buildings. Stable and service yards outside the bailey belong to the later residential and administrative use of the complex.
About one-sixth of the bailey wall was reduced almost to ground level on the bailey side to open views towards the park. A lower terrace was added where the outer wall formerly joined the keep during the Georgian alterations. The wall overlooking the River Aln and controlling its bridge was reportedly lowered in the sixteenth century to form a broad artillery terrace from which guns could command the bridge.
Decoration and collections
Sculpture and perimeter towers
Sculpted figures surmount the battlements. Some date from about 1300, while many surviving figures were commissioned in the mid-eighteenth century by the 1st Duke and Duchess of Northumberland from James Johnson of Stamfordham. Three perimeter towers contain special exhibitions. The Postern Tower presents material on the Dukes of Northumberland and their archaeological interests, including frescoes from Pompeii, ancient Egyptian relics, and Romano-British objects. The Constable’s Tower contains military displays, including material on the Percy Tenantry Volunteers, local soldiers raised between 1798 and 1814 against the possibility of a Napoleonic invasion. The Abbot’s Tower houses the museum of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers.
Parks and garden
Pastures and Hulne Park
Two associated parks extend the setting of the castle. The smaller Pastures lies immediately north of the castle and straddles the River Aln. Lancelot Brown and Thomas Call landscaped it in the eighteenth century. The larger Hulne Park contains the remains of Hulne Priory.
Alnwick Garden
Alnwick Garden lies beside the castle. It is a formal garden arranged around a cascading fountain, designed by Jacques Wirtz and Peter Wirtz of Wirtz International. The first phase, including the fountain and major planting, opened in 2001. A large treehouse complex with a cafe followed in 2004, and a poison garden was added in 2005.
The castle remains in good repair and continues to function as a residence, office complex, and public historic building. Its surviving inhabited condition reflects the continued adaptation of a medieval fortress to later residential, educational, administrative, and cultural uses.
