Halton Castle

In the North East, we're not short on castles or pele towers, and we've got our fair few, but just close to Corbridge, you'll find a double whammy of a pele tower turned castle at Halton.

This is the private home of Sir Hugh and Lady Anna Blackett, ex owner/hoteliers of Matfen Hall, which they sold in 2020.

Halton Castle is a super special Grade 1 listed building just on the line of Hadrian's Wall and has a lot of history in its stones. If walls could talk!

First recorded in 1382 when people were wrestling with the aftermath of the Peasants' Revolt...argy bargying over high taxes and social instability...sound familiar? Who wants a 14 year old king after all?

People were fearful of Border tensions between Scotland and the North East, and the threat of invasion from Scotland was a constant worry.

To protect himself, Robert de Lowther had a fortified tower built, which was burned by the Scots...not much protection there then!

After his death the estate was passed to the hands of William Carnaby who built himself a pele tower with hefty thick walls, intractable and impenetrable by the Scots. You can still see the Carnaby coat of arms at Halton set into the wall.

Much of the stone came from the ruined and abandoned Roman fort of Onnum whose tumble down stones can still be seen on the drive to Halton Castle. It was one of 17 such forts between Wallsend and Bowness on Solway.

It's impressive; a honey coloured stone tower which has stood through many centuries. It looked mostly intact and still habitable, which is a hat tip to those who built it, keeping the rebels out and the gentry in.

Look at those corbelled out bartizans. You don't get many of those to the pound and lo and behold anything that was dropped from that mighty height to an intruding Reiver below!

And look at that perfect vista from the garden down over the Ha Ha with expansive views of the Tyne Valley.

We were blessed with sunshine, which beautifully painted a picture of a calm country idyll for your average country gent and his lady. But even on a grey and windswept day, you'd be able to spot your enemies from here, high up, and eye on the ball.

On our visit, (we have no highfalutin connections), we were simply here to see the gardens; a neat array of herbaceous borders, mature trees and hedges all with beautiful views.

There was a box parterre brimming with fruit and vegetables, and people reclining in deck chairs like the gaff was theirs for the day.

Paths meandered through wildflower meadows, and hidden archways cut through thick beech hedges, revealing wrought iron gates...and invitations to tennis. It was a North Tyne feast for the eyes. We noticed people resting the weight from their legs on what looked like a modern-day stone circle. Every good garden has one, surely!

The tower is four storeys tall with a vaulted basement and an entrance to the north. There seemed to be an array of tiny arrow slits or gun loops which may now serve as window lights. Look at those impressive, rounded turrets knocked up from Roman stones.

It's pretty simple in stature and looks solid.

There's a hotchpotch of Roman Alter stones dotted about the building, which are hard to spot and built into the fabric of the house.

A Jacobean Manor House was added in the 15th century but was later dismantled, and the current manor house was added in 1695 by John Douglas, giving the castle an incongruous glued-on appearance, though it was the pele tower that came first.

We loved the adjoining masonry to the rear of the tower with its strong supporting buttress, and look at that chunky chimney. I wondered if this was maybe the home of the kitchen, and if a haunch of venison was commonly cooked over the fire here.

The mid 1700s saw the marriage of heiress Anne Douglas to Sir Edward Blackett, and the castle has been in the hands of the Blackett's ever since.

There's lots of history to unpick here and mottled masonry from across centuries, where bits of building have been attached, removed and reattached. It's even said that there's a secret tunnel running between Halton Castle and Aydon Castle, both owned by the Blackett's over the centuries.

The tunnel was a means of manoeuvring between your bastles at a time of marauding Scots.

I'm just working on my tunnel as we speak!

Please note that Halton Castle is not open to the public ordinarily.

We visited an open garden event run by the National Garden Scheme. It's open once every year, raising money for charity, so keep an eye on their website.