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Warkworth Castle, Northumberland

Warkworth Castle in Northumberland was originally a Scottish motte castle -a wooden fortification on top of a mound - built in the mid twelfth century by Earl Henry of Northumberland, son of King David of Scotland. By 1158 Warkworth was in English hands, and Henry II gave the castle to Roger FitzRichard. Work began on turning the original wooden fortification into a stone castle. During wars between England and Scotland in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Warkworth became a major defensive position. Following two sieges by the Scots, Edward II presented Warkworth to the powerful Percy family, who were obliged to provide defense against Scotland in return. It was in the late fourteenth century that Henry Percy built the huge keep which dominates Warkworth Castle.

 

By making the Percys so powerful, Edward II helped his cause against Scotland, but he also created problems for himself and later English monarchs. The Percys began as government agents in the north, only to become leading figures in various northern rebellions against the government. In 1403 Henry Percy, also known as Harry Hotspur, was involved in helping to depose Richard II and putting Henry Bolingbroke on the throne as Henry IV. But then Hotspur and Henry IV fell out over division of spoils following a victory over the Scots. Hotspur joined forces with his uncle, Thomas Percy, and led a rebellion against Henry IV, which ended with Hotspur's death at the Battle of Shrewsbury. Hotspur, earned himself a place in Shakespeare's play King Henry IV on the strength of this. Early scenes of King Henry IV Part 2 are set at Warkworth, where the apparently secure castle walls reflect ironically on confused loyalties in the play. A ghostly character called Rumour opens the play by drifting about the walls of Warkworth Castle. He spreads a deceptive rumour that rather than dying at Shrewsbury, Hotspur triumphed, and it was King Henry who died. It is in this confused, fluctuating situation that King Henry IV Part 2 begins.

 

 

In 1536 the Percys were involved with the Pilgrimage of Grace, the north's attempt to rebel against Henry VIII's decision to change England's religion from Catholicism to Protestantism. This was the beginning of a period of wildly fluctuating Percy fortunes. Under Henry VIII the Percy family lost Warkworth and their castle at Alnwick, had their holdings returned to them by the Catholic Mary Tudor, only to lose them again under Mary's Protestant successor Elizabeth I. Elizabeth's reign was to see the end of the Percys as power brokers. Warkworth declined with the Percys, and suffered damage during the Civil War in the seventeenth century. It was at this point that the once mighty Percy family finally abandoned Warkworth. In the late seventeenth century all Percy estates passed to the Smithsons, who confusingly took the name Percy. They carried out some repair work. In 1922 Warkworth was given to the state, and is now administered by English Heritage.

Several castles including Warkworth were used as locations for the film Elizabeth.

 

 

 

 

 

Opening Times: Open daily April to September 10am to 5pm.

October 10am to 4pm daily.

From November to March 10am to 4pm but only on weekends and Mondays.

The castle is closed 24th - 26th December and 1st January.

Directions: Warkworth Castle is in Warkworth village, off the A1068, just north of Amble in Northumberland. Click here for an interactive satellite map centred on Warkworth Castle. Postcode NE65 0UJ.

Access: Some areas are inaccessible to wheelchair users. A custodian has a ramp to help at the entrance.

Contact:

telephone: 01665 711423

web site: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.13348

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