Out & About …

… on the North York Moors, or wherever I happen to be.

Morpeth Castle

Morpeth Castle; or what remains of it. This is actually justĀ the gatehouse and dates from the 1340s. Very little is left of the rest of the castle. ButĀ even though this gatehouse has been much altered throughout the centuries it isĀ a Scheduled Ancient Monument and Grade I listed building. It is now used as a holiday let.

Morpeth is a castle where nothing much seems to have happened.Ā Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots, stayed there after fleeing Scotland. After the death of her husband, King James IV at the Battle of Flodden, she became regent to the child King James V. This made her quite a few enemiesĀ coupled with the fact that she was the sister ofĀ England’s King Henry VIII, Scotland’s enemy at the time.

The castle’s other claim to fame wasĀ during theĀ English Civil War when, in 1644,Ā 500 ScottishĀ CovenantersĀ held it for Parliament against 2,700 besieging Royalists.

 


Posted

in

,

by

Tags:

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *