England · Still standing
Featherstone Castle
Featherstone Castle is a large castellated country house on the bank of the River South Tyne in Northumberland, England. The building preserves medieval elements including a 14th-century pele tower but was substantially remodelled and enlarged into a Gothic-style castellated mansion during post-medieval alterations, becoming a rectangular house with a central courtyard and towers at each angle.
Its prime
1830
Today
Still standing
As it stood in 1830
What Featherstone Castle looked like in its prime.
A large rectangular castellated stone country house of warm grey-brown ashlar and coursed rubble, with a central rounded drum tower flanked by rectangular angle towers and continuous battlemented parapets along the roofline. The principal façade shows tall multi-light mullioned windows in two main storeys above smaller ground-floor openings; a wide arched carriageway penetrates the right-hand wing. The complex sits above a low stone boundary wall with open lawn and the River South Tyne immediately beyond.
Its story
The story of Featherstone Castle.
The Featherstonehaughs and Their Pele Tower
The manor house on this site belonged to the Featherstonehaugh family in the 11th century, on ground about three miles south-west of Haltwhistle and some five kilometres south of the line of Hadrian's Wall, which the Romans raised in 122 AD. The building was possibly a 13th-century hall house, and a square three-storey pele tower was added in 1330 by Thomas de Featherstonehaugh. A survey of 1541 found the property a tower in good repair, occupied by Thomas Featherstonehaugh.
Howards, Wallaces and the Wydon Eals Coffins
In the 17th century the property was acquired by Sir William Howard, father of the 1st Earl of Carlisle, and was remodelled and substantially enlarged. Matthew Featherstonehaugh (1662–1762) bought it back from the Earl of Carlisle in 1711, and a survey of 1715 described 'an ancient and well-built structure'. The family remained in occupation until Sir Matthew Fetherstonhaugh sold the house to James Wallace about 1789. His son Thomas Wallace made further alterations between 1812 and 1830, and Lord Wallace bequeathed the estate to his nephew Colonel James Hope (1807–1854), son of the Earl of Hopetoun, who changed his name to Hope-Wallace. The various alterations left a large castellated and complex country house, rectangular in form with a central courtyard and towers at each angle.
In 1825 farmers working the land at Wydon Eals near the castle cut into what they took for a buried oak trunk and found it to be an oaken coffin holding human remains, which turned to dust on exposure to the air. The remains of four other wooden coffins were found in the same area. These log-coffins have been assigned to the early medieval period, and similar examples have been found in the north and east of England.
Camp 18 and the German Officers
During the Second World War a prisoner-of-war camp, Camp 18, ran along the South Tyne and across a mile of Featherstone Park. After 1945 it held 7,000 German officers. The camp closed on 15 May 1948; the officers still there were taken by bus to Haltwhistle and by train to other clearing camps in Britain before returning to Germany. Its contents were sold in 1950, and a memorial plaque was put up at the former entrance in 1982. Some remains of the camp are still visible on the castle grounds.
Hillbrow School and the Conference Centre, 1950–1961
The property was sold in 1950 and became Hillbrow School, a boys' preparatory school named for the house near Rugby School in the Midlands where it had first been established; by then Hillbrow was settled at Overslade House, which a landmine had damaged in 1940. The house was listed Grade I in June 1952. In 1961 the school moved to new premises at Ridley Hall in Northumberland and Featherstone Castle was converted into a residential conference and activity centre for young people and students.
Step inside
7 places to explore in 1830.
The record describes 7 distinct spots at Featherstone Castle, including 2 interiors: rectangular central courtyard, medieval pele tower (interior). Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
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Clans who held Featherstone Castle.
The families that held Featherstone Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Featherstonehaugh
Held the manor from the 11th century; repurchased in 1711 and held until sold about 1789.
Acquired by Sir William Howard in the 17th century; sold back by the Earl of Carlisle in 1711.
Held from about 1789 by James Wallace; Lord Wallace bequeathed the estate to his nephew, who took the name Hope-Wallace.
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