Castle Curtain Walls With Gateway, Towers And Attached Buildings

Castle curtain walls with gateway, towers and attached buildings at Warkworth Castle.

This castle dates from the 12th to 16th centuries, with some post-medieval patching. The earliest parts were probably built by Earl William, who later became William the Lion of Scotland. The castle underwent substantial medieval remodelling under the Percy family, who held Warkworth from 1332 onwards. It fell into ruin in the late 16th century. The walls are built of squared stone of various types.

The castle is built on an earlier motte-and-bailey and forms an irregular triangle in plan, with the donjon at the north apex on the motte. The Great Gate Tower stands in the centre of the south curtain, Carrickfergus Tower at the south-west corner, and Amble or Montagu Tower at the south-east corner. Grey Mare's Tail Tower and West Postern Tower are located near the north of the curtain walls on the east and west sides respectively. A Collegiate Church divides the Inner and Outer wards, with the principal apartments and chapel located in the Outer Ward.

The Great Gate Tower, dating to around 1200, has a pointed arch in a corbelled recess beneath wall-head machicolation. It is flanked by semi-octagonal towers with tall polygonal buttresses at the southern angles, battered bases, and cruciform arrow loops low in the walls. The curtain east of the gatehouse, 2 to 3 metres high, is a post-medieval rebuild on 13th-century foundations. The square, late 15th-century, four-storey Amble or Montagu Tower projects to the east and has slits to the lower floors and two-light windows above. The taller 13th-century curtain west of the gatehouse runs to a polygonal 13th-century, three-storey Carrickfergus Tower projecting to the south; the west part is largely fallen and has tall arrow loops on the ground floor.

On the east curtain, north of Amble and Montagu Tower is the East Postern with a mutilated pointed arch and a 13th-century projecting turret with two quatrefoil loops high in the wall. Beyond this, the curtain dates to the 12th century and was heightened in the 13th century. The semi-octagonal 13th-century Grey Mare's Tail Tower is well preserved, with a battered base, tall arrow loops, and an embattled parapet. A 13th-century wall running up the motte has a large semi-octagonal buttress.

The west curtain's 13th-century southern part has a round-arched recess with a carved panel above a square-headed window, which probably held a solar balcony. The windowless 12th-century centre part runs alongside the hall; the north lower post-medieval part and 14th-century section feature chamfered set-backs and two relieving arches at the base. This section joins West Postern Tower, which has a slightly-pointed arch and square-headed windows on two floors above, with an embattled parapet featuring a cruciform loop on the left return. A 13th-century wall running up the motte has a buttress similar to that on the east.

Beam sockets below the parapets of the curtains and towers held timber fighting galleries.

The Great Gate Tower interior contains a passage with a pointed barrel vault, twin portcullis slots, and arrow slits in the side walls. Flanking guard chambers have similar vaults. Curving flights of stairs beyond the guard chambers lead up to the 1st-floor chamber. The chapel to the west has a piscina on the south but is otherwise much ruined.

The apartments on the east side of the Outer Ward were largely remodelled in the 15th century. Lion Tower served as a porch to the north end of the hall and to the Collegiate Church, with diagonal buttresses flanking a moulded arch. A large recessed panel above features fan corbels with relief carvings of the Percy lion and other emblems. The interior has a groin vault. The hall is much ruined but retains pier bases and a south respond with nailhead decoration from a 13th-century arcade; bases of two hearths are visible, and at the south end a broad stair in the thickness of the curtain wall led up to the solar. Little Stair Tower formed a second porch to the south end of the hall, solar undercroft, and chapel, with diagonal buttresses, four-centred archways, and remains of a groin vault on the 1st floor. A newel stair in the west wall rises to an umbrella vault in a taller turret capped by a stone spire. Service rooms and kitchen to the north of the hall are much ruined.

The cruciform Collegiate Church, never completed, was designed with an aisled four-bay nave and two-bay chancel. Lower courses and pier bases survive, except for a passage with a Tudor-arched ashlar vault beneath the east end, which served as a link between the inner and outer wards, and two chambers with similar vaults beneath the choir and north transept.

A brewhouse or laundry in the Inner Ward, a range of buildings including stables along the east curtain, and a range alongside the east part of the south curtain are mostly reduced to footings. A detached well house in the outer ward is similarly ruinous but has a well cleared to a depth of 18 metres.