About 10 miles from where I grew up and a mere 2 miles along the road from where my Mam grew up is this magical ruin. Considering my interest in history, castles and the local area, I hadn't ever actually visited Twizel Castle! These photos were taken back on August 17th when Mam and I ventured out there for a walk.
The 'castle' dates back to the 18th century but the estate has been occupied (or at least owned) since the 15th century when a Tower House originally resided on the land for around 80 years before it was destroyed by a Scots army. In the early 16th century the estate was sold and a survey from 1561 reports that remnants of a tower house and a barmkin (defensive enclosure) were the only structures there at that time.
An inventory from 1595 mentions a new chamber, a gallery, and chambers in the tower. Today, blocked windows, a chamfered doorway and the original northeast angle quoins are all that can be seen of the medieval structure - some of which can be seen in the photos below.
The estate was sold again in the late 17th century to Sir Francis Blake who ''worked on the recreation of the castle as a Gothic Revival mansion, designed by architect James Nesbit of Kelso to be five levels tall. Despite some forty years of work, the project was never completed.''*
In 1882 during work on the Tillmouth Park estate, which is nearby, there was some demolition of Twizel Castle to recycle the stone in the new construction.
It's very sad to see the building in person and know its history because it's easy to imagine how it could have been so magical. The current condition is extremely poor and I highly recommend treading with much caution if you do visit. We did not touch anything and moved through the inside areas carefully and quickly.
The above is a very quick summary that I have gathered from my reading but please do visit the links below for a much fuller history. I have a part two to this post due to so many photos, so to refrain from rambling too long I'll talk more about it in the next part.
The above is a very quick summary that I have gathered from my reading but please do visit the links below for a much fuller history. I have a part two to this post due to so many photos, so to refrain from rambling too long I'll talk more about it in the next part.
*Information sourced from Wikipedia, Friends of Berwick and District Museum and Archives,
I'd love to hear of any other wonderful castle or ruins in the North East (from Berwick to Sunderland) that you reccomend!
Until next time...
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