Harbottle Castle

The mound on which the keep stands is thought to have been a site used by the ancient Britons, and to have carried an Anglian stronghold held by Mildred, son of Ackman. The castle itself was built about 1160 by the Umfraville family at the request of King Henry II, on land awarded to them following the Norman Conquest, presumably as a defence against the Scots. It stands at the west end of Harbottle village, overlooking the River Coquet some nine miles west-north-west of Rothbury. Not long after its erection, in 1174, it was taken by the Scots, and was then rebuilt more strongly.

In 1296 the castle was besieged by Robert de Ros and some 40,000 men, but the siege by the supporters of John Balliol was withstood. In the 1310s Robert the Bruce captured it.

Harbottle was restored in 1336, but was in ruins again by 1351. It was repaired at the end of the 14th century, and in about 1436 it passed into the hands of the Tailleboys. For a long time it was the residence of the Warden of the Middle Marches, and was used as a prison.

In 1515 Margaret Tudor, widowed queen of King James IV of Scotland and sister of King Henry VIII of England, came to the castle with her second husband, Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, having been banished by the regent, John Stewart, Duke of Albany. Their daughter was born there and was also called Margaret. Margaret Douglas became the mother of Lord Darnley, the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, and grandmother of King James VI of Scotland and I of England.

Further building work took place between 1541 and 1551, and more repairs were made in 1563 and in 1585. The castle became a royal property in 1546, and repairs were supervised by Sir John Forster, warden of the Middle Marches. A survey made in 1596 records that Forster had built a new gatehouse and a tower that served as a lodging for the captain. In 1605 King James I granted the castle and manor to George Home, 1st Earl of Dunbar, Lord Treasurer of Scotland.

Thereafter the castle fell into decay, and much of its masonry was used in other buildings. A survey of 1715 reported it to be ruinous once more. Stone from the derelict medieval castle went into a 17th-century manor house at the east end of the village; that manor was acquired by Percival Clennell in 1796, and in 1829 the house was replaced on the site with a two-storeyed, five-bayed mansion designed by the architect John Dobson for Fenwick Clennell, which took the name Harbottle Castle and holds Grade II listed status.

Only earthworks and some standing masonry remain of the medieval castle. It was listed Grade I in 1953 and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument; the site is run by the Northumberland National Park Authority and entry is free.