The Gatehouse. The comprehensive listing of medieval fortifications and castles in England and Wales.
Home | Books | Links | Fortifications and Castles | Other Information | Help | Downloads | Author Information | Contact

Go to Previous Record Go to Next Record Back to List

Bellingham Castle

In the civil parish of Bellingham. In the historic county of Northumberland (Modern Authority of Northumberland, 1974 county of Northumberland).

This site has been described as a;
Timber Castle
Tower House
Masonry Castle
.
  Confidence: It is probable that this site was a medieval fortification or palace.   Cropmarks/slight earthworks remains.
Bellingham Castle was probably an early C12 Motte and Bailey castle, built by the Bellingham family. All traces of the stone castle had disappeared by the late C13 leaving only the mound. (Jackson writes towerhouse site) First mentioned 1263. A mound at the east end of Bellingham is all that remains of the former motte and bailey castle. It was probably built in C12 by the Bellingham family and is likely to have been replaced by a stone castle in C13. The existence of a castle here is suggested by documentary evidence which reports that William de Bellingham, sheriff of Tynedale and forester of Tynedale under the king of Scotland, had his seat at Bellingham. The mound is topped by a smaller mound and, because the top of this feature is quite small, doubt has been expressed about the form of the castle if it was situated here; it has also been suggested that the whole mound is a natural feature.
The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is NY84088328

Air Photo from multimap logo

Air Photo and general mapping

1st edition OS Map from old maps logo

Mid to late 19th century maps

Modern Map from Ordnance Survey logo

Landscape form and features

Modern Map from streetmap logo

General location and route planning

Geograph British Isles geography.org.uk logo
occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 17123
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is N7979 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website.

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of English Heritage and other individuals and organisations. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes. I do not receive any income from this site and I fund it myself.
The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.
Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from any site without proper recording and reporting. Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.
Please help me to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting me if you see errors or if you can add information.
I do acknowledge the help I get with this site.
Go to Previous Record Go to Next Record Back to List
This record last updated on Thursday, December 17, 2009

Home | Books | Links | Fortifications and Castles | Other Information | Help | Downloads | Author Information | Contact
¤¤¤¤¤