Capheaton Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Hutton; Kippetheton; Kippitheton

In the civil parish of Capheaton.
In the historic county of Northumberland.
Modern Authority of Northumberland.
1974 county of Northumberland.
Medieval County of Northumberland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NZ03908047
Latitude 55.11861° Longitude -1.94038°

Capheaton Castle has been described as a certain Tower House.

There are no visible remains.

This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

A fortalice is mentioned in 1415, and described as a "fair castle" in 1538 (Bates 1891).
It was moated, and had a drawbridge. The present house was built, a little to the east, in 1668 (Hodgson 1827).
There are no visible remains of the 'castle' (probably a tower),and its site is in some doubt. The present owner states that traditionally it stood south of the Hall (position published), whereas Hodgson and later writers record it as being to the west. No clarification is obtained by consultation of available estate records and plans. The Hall itself is not outstanding (F1 BHP 24-AUG-68).
The tower had a moat and drawbridge at that time. A beacon was lit on the roof to warn of sea raiders, and the local gentry often met here to organise retaliatory sorties. This may be the reason why the Charltons led the Croziers here in 1543 to fire both the village and tower. The tower was repairable. Capheaton Hall was commissioned in 1668 to replace the tower (King 1983; Dodds 1999). (PastScape)

Capheaton Castle occurs in the list of fortified places made out some time while the duke of Bedford had possession of the estates of Henry Percy, the second earl of Northumberland, which were restored in 1416. Leland calls it "a faire castle, in the midste of Northumberland, as in the bredthe of it. It is a IIII or V miles north from fenwicke pile and this is the oldist house of the Swinburnes." He also calls the place "Hutton," and says Wallington is two miles east of it. Collins says it was "moated about, and had a drawbridge, and was a place of resort in the moss-trooping times, when the gentlemen of the country met together to oppose those felonious aggressors upon the goods and chattels of the country, having a beacon on its top, to alarm the neighbourhood.'" It was re-built, in 1668, upon a new site, a little to the east of it, from designs by Robert Trollop, the architect of the old exchange of Newcastle, and of the present mansion-house at Netherwitton. (Hodgson 1827)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1154285
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 21107.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N10481.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Capheaton Hall
Books
- Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 269-70
  Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 31
  Jackson, M.J.,1992, Castles of Northumbria (Carlisle) p. 39
  Rowland, T.H., 1987 (reprint1994), Medieval Castles, Towers, Peles and Bastles of Northumberland (Sandhill Press) p. 51, 59
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 346
  Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p. 96-7
  Hedley, W. Percy, 1968-70, Northumberland Families Vol. 1 p. 97-9,112
  Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 79
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Tomlinson, W.W., 1897, Comprehensive Guide to Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 239
  Bates, C.J., 1891, Border Holds of Northumberland (London and Newcastle: Andrew Reid) p. 15, 28, 207 (Also published as the whole of volume 14 (series 2) of Archaeologia Aeliana view online)
  Hodgson, J., 1827, History of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Part 2 Vol. 1 p. 213-30 online copy
  Hutchinson, Wm, 1776, A View of Northumberland (Newcastle) Vol. 1 p. 216 (slight) online transcription
  Collins, A., 1741, The English Baronetage (London) Vol. 3 p. 174 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Riches, A., 1976, 'Capheaton Hall' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 133 p. 169-73 (mainly concerned with later house)
  1951-6, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (ser5) Vol. 1 p. 343
  1911, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (ser3) Vol. 5 p. 79-82 online copy
  1901, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (ser2) Vol. 10 p. 59 online copy
  Bates, C.J., 1891, 'Border Holds of Northumberland' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser2) Vol. 14 p. 15, 28, 207 online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- 1415, Nomina Castrorum et Fortaliciorum infra Comitatum Northumbrie online transcription
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. 344
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 5 p. 65 online copy

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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.

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Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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*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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