Blenkinsopp Castle

The manor of Blenkinsopp, above the Tipalt Burn south of Greenhead in Northumberland, was held by the Blenkinsopp family from the 13th century. County records from the reign of Henry III (1207–1272) name Ralph Blenkinsop as owner of the land, though nothing had yet been built on the site. The family later raised a substantial tower house — some records date its construction to 1339 — and were granted a licence to crenellate on 6 May 1340, fortifying the tower to help guard the border.

A survey of 1541 found the tower's roof in decay and the building itself not in good repair. The Blenkinsopps retained ownership of the manor but granted possession to the Earl of Northumberland, abandoning the castle for their nearer properties at Bellister Castle and Blenkinsop Hall. In 1727 the heiress Jane Blenkinsopp married William Coulson of Jesmond, carrying the estate into the Coulson family.

Writing before 1769, Wallis recorded the west and north-west sides still protected by a high wall and a deep ditch, with a vault running through the tower thirty-three feet long and eighteen and a half feet wide, and two lesser vaults on the north side — though the facing on the western wall had already fallen, he noted, "beyond the memory of any person yet living". By 1832 the property stood in disuse, and a mine agent's house, probably designed by the architect John Dobson, was built adjoining the ruin.

Between 1877 and 1880 William Lisle Blenkinsopp Coulson had the tower absorbed into a new Tudor-style country mansion, built of dressed and squared stone that incorporated some Roman material. Shortly after the works were finished, the Coulsons sold their Blenkinsopp estates to Edward Joicey.

The mansion served as a hotel in the 20th century until a fire in 1954 caused major damage, and large sections were subsequently demolished on safety grounds. The first floor of the 1880 entrance block was removed separately in 1986. Charles Simpson bought the property in 1955, and the castle featured in a British Pathé newsreel item in August 1956.

One surviving wing has since served as a family home, while the Blenkinsopp Castle Inn — occupying what had been the castle's coach stable — operated separately, with rooms, a bistro and a bar, as of August 2020. The Simpson family carried out renovations, most recently in 2012 with financial assistance from Historic England, on a building that has been Grade II listed since 1952 and is also a Scheduled Ancient Monument, recorded as one of the "surviving tower houses retaining significant medieval remains".