BAMBURGH CASTLE TODAY
The castle is open to the public 11am to 5pm (last entry 4:30pm) from March 17th to the end of October. The castle web site gives further details concerning access and visitor attractions bamburghcastle.com
Bamburgh Castle from the west. The dolorite crag on which the castle sits has been occupied for at least the last 2000 years.
The castle dominates Bamburgh Village, which can been seen extending westwards from the foot of the castle rock.
The Keep
The present structural remains span the last 800 years. One of the earliest structures, the Norman keep, is also one of the most impressive.
The keep looking south-west.
Dating from the mid 12th century the keep stands almost to its original height. The windows and the very top of the battlements represent post-medieval work but the main fabric of the structure remains remarkably intact. The ground floor of the structure was vaulted in stone with the subsequent floors in timber. The medieval layout of the ground floor and first floor have survived to the present day substantially intact. Although the upper floors have been substantially altered, during the refurbishment of the keep for habitation in the 18th century (see below), the basic layout of the medieval structure remains.
Drawings were made of the medieval fittings at the time of the restoration, but sadly no trace of them was found by C J Bates when he was researching his history of the castle in the 1890s. They have yet to come to light and may be lost forever.
The castle was very badly damaged in the siege of 1464 and no repairs of substance carried out for a further 300 years, by which time the walls and buildings, with the exception of the keep were in a state of ruin. Construction work intended to make the castle habitable again was begun in the mid 18th century. This resulted in the castle functioning as a Girls School and a hostel for shipwrecked mariners. An interesting combination to say the least! The vast majority of the rebuilding work, however, dates to the turn of the 20th century and was financed by the 1st Lord Armstrong who purchased the castle at a time when it was again falling into disrepair.
The north wall of the castle with the wall of the Inner Ward above, photographed from within a tower on the seaward side of the castle. The walls have been rebuilt in the modern period on the line of the original medieval defences, the foundations of which are visible in places.
St Oswald's Gate at the northern end of the castle.
The castle museum contains many objects of great interest including the gold strapends excavated from the West Ward. One object of particular rarity is a fragment of an Anglo-Saxon stone throne. Only four such thrones have been identified in the whole of Western Europe north of the Alps. Three of these are from Northumbria (the others are at Hexham and Beverley). The last is Charlemagne's throne at Aachen (West Germany). One of Charlemagne's most trusted advisors was a Northumbrian monk called Alcuin. It is just possible that Alcuin brought the idea to Charlemagne's court as the two Northumbrian examples are earlier in date!
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Two views of the throne fragments. The left view shows the outside of the arm of the chair with its decoration. Click to enlarge (60k). The right view shows the inside of the arm with almost no decoration. Click to enlarge (70k).
St Aidan's Church in the village, looking east with the castle in the background.
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