Bamburgh Castle

Bamburgh Castle, on the northeast coast of England, by the village of Bamburgh in Northumberland, is a Grade I listed building.

The site was originally the location of a Celtic Brittonic fort known as Din Guarie and may have been the capital of the kingdom of Bernicia from its foundation c. 420 to 547. In that last year, it was captured by King Ida of Bernicia. After passing between the Britons and the Anglo-Saxons three times, the fort came under Anglo-Saxon control in 590. The Normans later built a new castle on the site, which forms the core of the present one. After a revolt in 1095 supported by the castle's owner, it became the property of the English monarch.

In the 17th century, financial difficulties led to the castle deteriorating, but it was restored by various owners during the 18th and 19th centuries. It was finally bought by the Victorian era industrialist William Armstrong, who completed its restoration. The castle is open to the public and owned by Francis Watson-Armstrong who is the son of the 3rd Baron Armstrong.

Text adapted from “Bamburgh Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Bamburgh Castle ranks #155 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #15 of the 329 mapped in England. Founded c. 1050, it is older than 90% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 317 atlas entries founded in the 11th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 47,240 times in the last 60 days, more than 99% of the atlas. 5 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Newcastle upon Tyne, 71 km away. It is one of the 18 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of Northumberland. See how England compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗