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Thirlwall Castle Ordnance Survey Map Reference NY 659662

Thirlwall Castle lies just north of the village of Greenhead in the county of Northumberland, and stands on high ground on the west bank of the Tipalt Burn.  It can be reached via a footpath off the B6318 road and is well sign-posted.  The footpath takes one across a railway line and links up with a section of the Pennine Walk.  At the time of my visit, the castle stood on private land by a farm, but was easily visible from the footpath.



Above : Thirlwall Castle – August 1998

It is said that Edward I slept here on 20th September 1306, but there is no record of a castle until 1369, when it was described as "the castrum of Thirlwall".  The present castle is constructed of stones taken from Hadrian's Wall nearby, and accounts for the complete disappearance of the Roman wall in the immediate vicinity.  Indeed, the name Thirlwall means "pierced wall" or "gap in the wall".
The castle was held by Roland de Thirlwall in 1415.  In 1541 it was in the hands of Robert Thirlwall and was noted to be "in measurable good repair".  In the early 17th century the Thirlwall family abandoned the site, but remained in ownership.  It continued to be used as a farm until the Scots captured and slighted it in the 1640s.  Ironically, at one time it actually stood within the borders of Scotland.
At the beginning of the 18th century, the owner, William Thirlwall, was living in Hexham.  When he died, around 1710, the castle passed to his principal creditor, John Shaftoe.  Eleanora, William's daughter and sole heiress later took possession of the castle.  In 1738 she married Matthew Swinburne, eldest son of Sir John Swinburne, third Baronet of Capheaton, and in 1748 they sold the castle to Sir Henry Howard, fourth Earl of Carlisle.  In 1759 his son had the inside of Thirlwall cleared of debris, and discovered that the flooring consisted of three layers of flagstones with sand between them.
Around 1813 a visitor commented that "the great part of it has of late been applied to building cottages".  The east corner of the castle collapsed into the Tipalt Burn in 1831, and a year later, the artist, Thomas Allom, produced an engraving showing Thirlwall Castle, which can be seen below.



Since then there have been two further falls, so only a fragment of the original castle still stands.  In the 1970s the castle and adjoining farm were purchased by a Mr. Scott drinks moat*#@er.



Taken from Mike Salter’s "The Castles & Tower Houses of Northumberland"

The outcrop upon which the castle stands once had a walled barmkin, but now consists only of a platform measuring 22m by 15m, with the L-shaped tower lying on the north-east side.  The tower has a main block 19.5m from south-west to north-east by 11.2m wide, over walls upto 2.8m thick.  A wing 9.2m wide projects 6.4m from the south end of the south-east wall, and there is a turret 4m by 3.6m clasping the north corner.  The east corner, which collapsed in 1831, may have had a similar turret.  A stair rose within the wall in straight flights around this corner from an entrance in the south-east wall, one jamb of it still remaining.
An iron yett survived until the 1760s and a drawbar hole, no longer visible, was noted in 1884.  The main block basement appears to be unvaulted, and narrow slits, one in each side wall and one at the far end, provided the only source of light.  Further slits provided lighting in the two upper storeys.  The wing contained four storeys of private rooms, the second and third having latrines in the south corner.



Above : Thirlwall Castle – August 1998

The castle has been the subject of a recent conservation project, details of which can be found at http://www.robinkent...ils/thirl1.html and the site is now apparently open to the public.

Other websites providing details of Thirlwall Castle include the following :

http://members.rott....mmes/thirl.html
http://www.john-t-wa...twhi....all.htm
http://www.nnpa.org.uk/histbuild.htm

Bibliography

Kinross, John : Discovering Castles in England & Wales : Shire Publications Ltd., First Edition, 1973; Second Edition, 1984; Reprinted, 1990 & 1995
Rowland, T.H. : Medieval Castles, Towers, Peles & Bastles of Northumberland : Sandhill Press, First Edition, 1987 ; Reprinted, 1994
Salter, Mike : The Castles & Tower Houses of Northumberland : Folly Publications, December 1997

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Have located more information on Thirlwall Castle only this week.  Apparently legend tells of a dwarf ghost, who guards a solid gold table somewhere in the castle.

Bibliography
Winpenny, David - Northumbria & Hadrian's Wall - Ordnance Survey & Art Publishing, 1996

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A colour print of the castle in 1813.

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An engraving of the Thirlwall Castle in 1783, recently added to my collection.

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