NU 188135 /Habitable/Private (Access)

Medieval motte and bailey replaced by a stone built castle in the first half of C12. It was heavily fortified in C14 when the keep was strengthened but ruinous by C18, when it was restored and extended as a gothic style country house by Robert Adam and others. Further alterations were carried out in the second half of C19 under Anthony Salvin for the 4th Duke of Northumberland. The second largest inhabited Castle in England, after Windsor, and has been the home of the Percys, Earls and Dukes of Northumberland since 1309. Mentioned soon after 1096 when Yves de Vescy became baron of Alnwick and erected the earliest parts of the Castle. In 1138 the "strong castle of Annewic" passed by marriage to Eustace Fitz John. His son William, who died in 1193, assumed his mother's name of de Vesci. During this period the castle was rebuilt in stone and it was able to withstand seiges in 1172 and 1174 by the King of Scots, William the Lion. The 1st Lord Percy of Alnwick rebuilt in the early 1300's and portions of this remain today, including the Abbot's Tower, the Middle Gateway and the Constable's Tower. Otherwise the castle is a rebuilding of 1750.