Haggerston Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Hagerston; Braggarstone; Turris de Haggarston

In the civil parish of Ancroft.
In the historic county of Northumberland.
Modern Authority of Northumberland.
1974 county of Northumberland.
Medieval County of County Palatinate of Durham.

OS Map Grid Reference: NU04204366
Latitude 55.68693° Longitude -1.93500°

Haggerston Castle has been described as a probable Masonry Castle, and also as a certain Tower House.

There are no visible remains.

This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Castle mentioned in documentary sources in 1311, and described as a strong tower circa 1345. Partly destroyed by fire in 1618. A print of circa 1772 shows the tower in ruinous condition. The remains were demolished in 1805 and a house built on the foundations. This house was in turn replaced circa 1883-89 but the replacement has since been demolished itself, leaving only a tall, narrow, L-plan tower, which served as both a water tower and a belvedere. (PastScape)

John de Hagardestoun, a Scot who chose to live in England when he swore fealty to Edward I in 1296, chose Haggardstown as his estate. His son Robert applied for a licence to crenellate the manor house in 1345, the replacement being described at the time as a strong, square tower. In 1805, the tower was pulled down and a wing to a new mansion built on its foundations. A grander complex replaced this in 1889, but was burnt down in 1911, and a new building, including a tall tower, rose on the site. The site was sold in 1931, only the mock tower of post-1911 remaining, in what is now Haggerston Castle Holiday park. (PastScape ref. Dodds, 1991)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1345 June 4 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1154644
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 6524; 517003.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N4030.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- CastleUK.net
  Charles Taylor's ecastles
  North of the Tyne
  Wikipedia entry
  Abaroth's World
Books
- Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 54-5
  Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 58
  Jackson, M.J.,1992, Castles of Northumbria (Carlisle) p. 69,71
  Rowland, T.H., 1987 (reprint1994), Medieval Castles, Towers, Peles and Bastles of Northumberland (Sandhill Press) p. 10, 24
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 349
  Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p. 180
  Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 112
  Pevsner, N., 1957, Buildings of England: Northumberland (London, Penguin) p. 161
  Hodgson, J.C. (ed), 1910, Six North Country Diaries. Vol. I (Surtees Society 118) p. 16-17 online copy
  Welford, R. (ed), 1905, Records of the Committees for Compounding, etc., with delinquent royalists in Durham and Northumberland, 1643-60 (Surtees Society 111) p. 221-3
  Bates, C.J., 1891, Border Holds of Northumberland (London and Newcastle: Andrew Reid) p. 10, 17, 37 (Also published as the whole of volume 14 (series 2) of Archaeologia Aeliana view online)
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 414 online copy
  Raine, J., 1852, History and Antiquities of North Durham (London) p. 224, 226
  Hodgson, J. and Laird, F., 1813, Beauties of England and Wales; Northumberland Vol. 12 p. 231
  Hutchinson, Wm, 1776, A View of Northumberland (Newcastle) Vol. 2 p. 152 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Hodgson, J.C., 1916, 'List of Ruined Towers, Chapels, etc., in Northumberland; compiled about 1715 by John Warburton, Somerset Herald, aided by John Horsley' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser3) Vol. 13 p. 9 abridged transcription
  Bates, C.J., 1891, 'Border Holds of Northumberland' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser2) Vol. 14 p. 10, 17, 37 online copy
Guidebooks
- Slinn, J., 1995, A Souvenir History of Haggerston Castle 1070-1931
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- 1541 View of the Castles, Towers, Barmekyns and Fortresses of the Frontier of the East and Middle Marches Survey of the East and Middle Marches
  1415 Nomina Castrorum et Fortaliciorum infra Comitatum Northumbrie online transcription
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1902, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward III (1343-45) Vol. 6 p. 479 online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 343
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 5 p. 64, 68 online copy

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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