Edlingham Castle

Edlingham Castle doesn’t follow the normal trend of being situated on a good defensive foundation as it lies at the bottom of a valley between Alnwick and Rothbury. 

 

The Bleak Northumberland Landscape

By 1174, John de Edlingham built a two storey Hall House in a moated enclosure in the mid thirteenth century.. In 1296 the property was taken over by William de Felton who added a palisade and a gatehouse, fortifying the main hall and adding other buildings inside the courtyard

 

 

In 1298 William de Felton built a hall house with a three storey residential tower.  In 1396 Elizabeth de Felton inherited it, marrying Sir Edmund Hastings, who added a strong solar tower. Their descendants occupied the castle and estate until 1514; it was then it was purchased by George Swinburne; a constable of Prudhoe, whose family held it until the 18th century. 

 

 

 

The hall is the earliest standing structure at Edlingham. This dates from the period 1295-1300. It almost certainly had vaulted cellars topped by a great hall, or living area. The hall was rectangular, with an octagonal turret at each corner.  The tower house is now nearly free-standing, though it was originally connected to the hall by a passage.  The highlight still remains the 15^th Century solar tower.