More information : [NU 0574 0159] Rothbury Castle. This early castle was on the N bank of the river Coquet with its mound on the S, close to the rivers' bank a little to the W of the church. Its site was levelled and the mound destroyed when the new churchyard was made. There is no history of it known. It would seem probable that it was built in the early C12th by the lord of the manor Robert Ogle. (1)
In 1661 Rothbury Hall [Castle] was in the occupation of William Thirlwall. Up to c.1850 the upper portion was still inhabited, but in 1869 its walls were razed to the ground and the foundations dug out to form an extension of the churchyard. It originally consisted of massive walls and stone arched vaults or strong dungeon chambers. Wm de Valence's prison at Rowebyre, mentioned in a record 24.4.1256 doubtless refers to the basement of this building. (2)
Tower at Rothbury. (3)
[General information as contained in Authority 2]. A distant view of the ruins in 1843 [not available] shows that part of the castle consisted of a square tower with E and W gables. Nothing is known of its architecture. (4)
The site occupied by the churchyard extension on the SW side of Church Street, is upon the highest part of a rise of ground, around the S side of which, the river Coquet flows in a shallow bend. The rise overlooks a long stretch of the river valley to the W and would do so to the E but for the erection of modern buildings on that side. To the N it commands rising wooded slopes beyond the town. There are now no traces to be seen of the castle. (5)
Listed by Cathcart King. (6)
Rothbury was part of the King's lands, and administered by the sheriffs until granted to the Warkworth Barons in 1205. Shortly after 1205, Robert, Baron Warkworth, built a hunting lodge on Haa Hill at Rothbury, probably either a tower or motte and bailey. In 1461 the building was replaced by a fortified manor house. By the 19th century, this building, called Rothbury Hall, was ruinous and was pulled down in 1869. (7) |