Aydon Castle

Aydon Castle,
Near Corbridge
Northumberland,
Corbridge NE45 5PJ, England

Phone Number: 01434 632 450

 

Aydon Castle, previously sometimes called Aydon Hall, is a fortified manor house at Aydon near to the town of Corbridge, Northumberland, England. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

 

A superb example of a late fortified 13th century manor house. Aydon Castle was constructed as a simple manor, but almost immediately fortified in the light of escalating conflict between Scots and English in modern Northumberland. The fortifications did not stop the Scots from sacking Aydon in 1315. The castle changed hands several times over subsequent years.

 

 

The manor of Aydon was purchased by Hugh de Reymes around 1294, and it was Henry's son Robert de Reymes who replaced the earlier wooden hall with the stone manor we see today. Aydon was adapted to use a a farmhouse in the 18th century, and it remained thus until 1966, when it passed to the management of English Heritage.

The site is composed of an outer courtyard, middle courtyard, inner courtyard where the major buildings are located, and an orchard. A footpath encircles the castle walls. Worthy of note is a wonderful medieval chimney on the south side of the site. A curtain wall protects the site on two sides, with the remainder protected by a steep hill. Rectangular and D-shaped towers are built into the curtain wall.

 

 

Agricultural buildings are evident in the outer courtyard, while a 17th century barn occupies the middle courtyard, where quarters for retainers would have stood in the medieval period. The inner courtyard is protected by battlements with a wall walk behind stone paapets.

 

The main entrance to the central hall was by way of a set of stairs to the first floor. Within the hall are a range of rooms, from the main upper hall, lower hall, kitchen wing, great chamber, and lower chamber.
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The term 'castle' is a bit misleading; Aydon is not a castle in the traditional sense, but a fortified manor house. What is really fascinating is how what was intended to be a comfortable rural residence for a wealthy merchant had to be adapted when war broke out along the Scottish border. The alterations to the manor were intended to make the house defensible, but they did not suffice. Its a reminder of just how turbulent life must have been in this area throughout the medieval period. I loved visiting Aydon; it offers a glimpse of what life must have been like, not for the upper crust of society, but for a moderately well-off merchant with pretensions to gentryhood.

 

From..... http://www.britainexpress.com/

 

Aydon Castle Website... http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/aydon-castle/

 

Pictures taken by myself,  Ken Fitzpatrick view more HERE