Wark Castle (Tyne)- Northumberland

Wark Castle

Location OS Landranger sheet 87 NY 861 768

How to get there Take B6320 north from Chollerford approx 5 Miles. the castle site is to your right as you enter the village. Take road opposite the Battlesteads Hotel.

A farm lies on the summit of the Motte assumed to have been built by Prince Henry of Scotland after he was created Earl of Northumberland in 1139

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History

NY 861768/Traces/Access

Wark-on-Tyne was the capital of the Liberty of Tynedale which comprised the whole of the two Tyne valleys north and west of Hexham. The writs of the English King did not apply to Tynedale. The presence of the two large Liberties of Redesdale and Tynedale under their powerful Lords explains the absence of any large Castles in this area now National Park.

Remains of a motte and bailey castle at Moat Hill (Mote Hill) , dating to 1165, built on the site of a moot. There is a baily platform 80m by 50m with remains of a rampart. A castle is thought to have been built here by Prince Henry of Scotland after he was created Earl of Northumberland in 1139. Ratcliffe Manor House dated 1676 was later built on the site but only a doorway now survives, incorporated into a small outbuilding and inscribed with the date 1676.

A pele tower is mentioned in documents of 1399 belonging to the Grays and in 1415 it is listed as belonging to Sir Thomas Gray. It was destroyed by 1538 and no trace of such a structure survives. The site is now occupied by farm buildings. Since 1947 the site has belonged to the Parkend Estate.

Wark in Tyndale; Warke; Moat Hill; Turris de Werke in Tyndall

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