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Walsall Arboretum by cattan2011

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Walsall Arboretum

Misty Morning, Shibdon Pond Local Nature Reserve, Blaydon, Tyne & Wear, England. by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

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Shibdon Pond Local Nature Reserve

History

In the nineteenth century this site had been a series of wetland pastures, but this changed when twentieth century mining and railway activities altered the water level and formed the pond. Between 1837 and 1951 Blaydon Main Colliery dominated the site. The capped shaft can still be seen behind Blaydon Swimming Pool. This area used to be a refuse dump, but careful planting and management of native British trees will ensure a rich new habitat for the future. The grassland provides habitat for voles and shrews which attract hunting kestrels.

Birds

Bird life varies throughout the year. From the observation hide you will be able to spot common birds such as tufted duck, mallard, coot and moorhen. In summer, masses of insects swarm above the pond and these can attract swifts, swallows, house martins and sand martins in large numbers. Look carefully around the edge of the pond and you should see grey herons and water rail as they search for food. In autumn, kingfisher can be seen regularly along with waders such as greenshank and common sandpiper. During cold winters numbers on the pond are boosted by visiting wildfowl from Northern Europe. In past years, a wide range of scarce species from Europe and further afield have been noted including laughing gull and green winged teal from North America, ferruginous duck from the Mediterranean and glaucous gull and Iceland gull from the edge of the Arctic Circle. Also at this time cormorants roost on the main island on the pond in large numbers.

Marsh

The marsh is a mosaic of reed beds and open pools which provide nest sites for birds such as sedge warbler and are ideal cover for otters visiting from the River Tyne. Where the marsh merges into grassland orchids can be seen during the summer months. The most obvious insect life is the dragonflies, damselflies and butterflies. In spring, look out for the orange tip butterfly and in summer the small skipper and meadow brown butterflies, common darter dragonfly and emerald damselfly. Heather, knapweed and yellow rattle are typical plants which grow here.

Scrub

Beyond the marsh areas of scrub provide cover for many birds such as whitethroat and willow warbler during the summer months. Predators such as foxes are attracted to this area by the large number of rabbits which live here.

Blaydon is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, and historically in County Durham. Blaydon, and neighbouring Winlaton, which Blaydon is now contiguous with, form the town of Blaydon-on-Tyne. The Blaydon/Winlaton ward had a population in 2011 of 13,896.

Between 1894 and 1974, Blaydon was an urban district which extended inland from the Tyne along the River Derwent for ten miles (16 km), and included the mining communities of Chopwell and High Spen, the villages of Rowlands Gill, Blackhall Mill, Barlow, Winlaton Mill and Stella, as well as Blaydon and Winlaton. During its existence, the Urban District's fourteen and a half square miles constituted the second largest administrative district by area, on Tyneside, after Newcastle upon Tyne.

History

The town of Blaydon is essentially an industrial area and is not more than two centuries old. Indeed, in the 1760s there was little here but a few farms and cottages. In the latter part of the same century a smelting works was set up from which sprang the industrial growth of the area.

Though the town itself has a relatively short history there has been activity in the area for many centuries.

Early history

The earliest recorded evidence of human activity at Blaydon is a Neolithic polished stone axe found in the early 20th century. Finds and structures from later prehistoric periods include a bronze spearhead and log-boat, both recovered from the River Tyne in the 19th century. A number of Bronze Age cists[citation needed] are recorded from Summerhill and several others from Bewes Hill.

Little is recorded of medieval Blaydon, which appears to have been based upon the modern farm sites of High and Low Shibdon. The Blaydon Burn Belts Corn Mill, part of a row of 5 or 6 water corn mills stretching from Brockwell Wood to the River Tyne is known to have been present by the early 17th century, suggesting a healthy population at that time. It is likely that, as well as farming, many industrial activities such as mining and quarrying had begun in the medieval and post-medieval periods, well before the industrial period of the 18th to 20th centuries when Blaydon became an important industrial centre.

Battle of Stella Ford

Also known as the Battle of Newburn or Newburn Ford, this relatively unknown battle has recently been elevated in importance by English Heritage. On 28 August 1640, 20,000 Scots defeated 5,500 English soldiers who were defending the ford over the Tyne four miles (6 km) west of Newcastle.[6] The Scots had been provoked by Charles I, who had imposed bishops and a foreign prayer book on their church. The Scots army, led by Alexander Leslie, fought its way to Newcastle and occupied the city for almost a year before Charles I paid it £200,000 to depart. The battle brought to an end the so-called 'Eleven Years of Tyranny' by forcing Charles to recall Parliament.

The 18th century and the Industrial Revolution

The stimulus for industry at Blaydon and Blaydon burn, as elsewhere in the region, was the growth in coal mining and the coal trade, particularly from the early 18th century, when the Hazard and Speculation pits were established at Low Shibdon linked to the Tyne by wagonways. The 18th century Blaydon Main Colliery was reopened in the mid-19th century and worked until 1921. Other pits and associated features included Blaydon Burn Colliery, Freehold pit and the Blaydonburn wagonway. Industries supported by the coal trade included chemical works, bottle works, sanitary pipe works, lampblack works, an ironworks, a smithy and brickworks - Cowen's Upper and Lower Brickworks were established in 1730 and were associated with a variety of features including a clay drift mine and coal/clay drops. The Lower works remains in operation. Blaydon Burn Coke Ovens, also of 19th-century origin, were replaced in the 1930s by Priestman Ottovale Coke and Tar Works which was the first in the world to produce petrol from coal[citation needed] known as Blaydon Benzole.

In addition to the workers' housing developments associated with industrialisation, a number of grand residences were constructed for industrialists in the area, such as Blaydon Burn House, home of Joseph Cowen, owner of the brickworks. Ironically, the remains of Old Dockendale Hall, an earlier grand residence (or perhaps a superior farmhouse) of 17th century or earlier construction, was destroyed when the coke and tar works was built at Blaydon Burn.

Blaydon School Press

In the 1930s, pupils at the now demolished Blaydon Intermediate School, under the leadership of English teacher Mr Elliott and art teacher Mr Boyce, gradually developed a technique for producing hardback books. Their productions were highly respected and favourably compared to other successful private printing presses of the time. In one volume produced by the school in 1935, entitled "Songs of Enchantment", the pupils were successful in convincing the famous poet Walter de la Mare to write a foreword in which he praised their enterprise and efforts.

Stella South Power Station

The post war era of the late 40s and 50s saw a rapid rise in demand for electricity and, in the North East, the extension of existing and construction of a number of new power stations was seen as a key part of the solution. For the Blaydon area, this meant the arrival of a new power station at Stella Haugh, known as the South Stella Power Station, which helped to meet the energy demands of the North East until its closure in 1991. It was demolished in 1992.

Governance

Blaydon ward elects three councillors to Gateshead Council. In the House of Commons, the Blaydon constituency has been held by Liz Twist for the Labour Party since 2017. The area has traditionally been a Labour stronghold and the seat has been held by them since 1935.

Geography

Modern Blaydon stands close to the Tyne with the A695, a key road from Gateshead to Hexham, passing through the town centre. Between this main road and the river is the railway and beyond it, on a bend of the Tyne, is the industrial district of Blaydon Haughs. The main part of the town lies south of the railway.

Despite being a largely urban and industrial area, there are various rural aspects to Blaydon and the surrounding area. The area has many acres of open countryside, mostly at 500 feet (150 m) or more above sea level, and numerous farms and similar holdings. Between High Spen and Chopwell are large Forestry Commission woods, and these and other forested areas extend westward down the hillside to the River Derwent, which forms most of the metropolitan district boundary.

Shibdon Pond, on the eastern edge of the town at the former site of Blaydon Main colliery, is a nature reserve with many species of waterfowl. English Nature has designated Shibdon Pond as one of Tyne and Wear's Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). The subject of a regeneration campaign, Shibdon Dene (sometimes inaccurately called 'Blaydon Dene') is another recreational area consisting of a pathway between a great number of fine trees.

There is also a nature reserve north-west of Blaydon at Blaydon Burn, on the route of a wagon-way which carried coal to the riverside. The track, roughly a mile-and-a-half long, is used by walkers and cyclists and ends near the Path Head Watermill.

Demography

Blaydon had a population of 15,155 in the 2011 census, which increased from 14,648 a decade earlier.

Economy

Once the powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution in Gateshead, Blaydon's traditional industry was coal mining. However, since the decline of mining in the 1950s and 1960s, the economy has diversified. As well as a small number of commuting professionals, residents of Blaydon are often involved in engineering and manufacturing with many businesses operating from premises in Blaydon Haughs (or 'The Spike'), on the banks of the River Tyne.

Blaydon was for a time the head office of Associated Cooperative Creameries (later renamed ACC then ACC Milk). ACC Milk was sold to Dairy Farmers of Britain in 2004. On 3 June 2009, Dairy Farmers of Britain went into receivership and the dairy in Chainbridge Road closed shortly afterwards with the loss of 300 jobs. In 2010 the dairy was acquired by Medina Dairies and reopened, but closed again just a year later.

Blaydon has a shopping centre, known locally as the precinct. A brutalist 1970s creation, it contains the town's major shops including newsagents, Greggs, Costa, Iceland (supermarket), B & M, Blaydon Carpets and Furnishings, Ladbrokes, Superdrug, Boots (chemist), Boyes and, at the nearby car park, a McDonald's. There are also several food and grocery outlets. The precinct underwent redevelopment in 2012–2014, with the installation of a lift, and the demolition of the Geordie Ridley pub to make way for a new Morrison's supermarket, a new day-centre and doctors' surgery, and roof-top parking. There is also a Co-op Funeralcare just outside the precinct on Bridge street. Blaydon Car Boot Sale takes place every Wednesday between March and October at Blaydon RFC.

The area underwent a significant programme of housing regeneration between 2009 and 2014 with new developments in progress at High View on the Winlaton-Blaydon border, by the riverside on the site of the former Stella South power station and at Axwell Gardens, near to the existing Axwell Park estate.

Landmarks

On the west of the town and a mile inland from the Tyne is Axwell Park, once the home of the Clavering family. Axwell Hall (also Axwell House) is a Grade II* listed mansion, built for Sir Thomas Clavering by the noted architect James Paine and completed in 1761. The last (10th) baronet died in 1893 and Axwell Hall later found use as a prisoner-of-war camp during the second world war and later as an approved school. Much of the park has been developed for residential purposes and the hall itself was, after two decades of decay, restored. There are plans to convert it to residential apartments.

Stella Hall

Up-river from Blaydon and outside the town boundary, Stella Hall was a 17th-century mansion set in a park. The house was built by the Tempest family, and in the next century passed by marriage to Lord Widdrington and then into the Towneley family. From 1850 it was owned by Joseph Cowen, owner of the local brickworks and MP for Newcastle, who was followed by his son, also Joseph, again an MP and also the owner of the Newcastle Chronicle. The house was demolished in 1955 to make way for housing.

Education

Blaydon is part of the Gateshead Local Education Authority. It is home to a number of primary schools (both faith and secular schools) including Blaydon West primary and St Joseph's, a Roman Catholic primary school. It also has St Thomas More Catholic School, a high achieving Roman Catholic secondary school which serves the Roman Catholic population of the western part of Gateshead borough.

Religious sites

Blaydon has several churches. In the town centre, St Cuthbert's (Church of England, opened in 1845) and St Joseph's (Roman Catholic, opened in 1905 on the site of an earlier church) are opposite each other, on either side of Shibdon Road. Both are impressive structures, and the interiors still reflect the style of architecture used in their construction. Also on Shibdon Road, at the corner with Lucy Street and opposite the entrance to the roof-top car park above Morrisons, is Trinity Methodist Church.

There is also a Catholic church in Stella (St Mary and Thomas Aquinas, opened 1835) .

A brand new Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses was opened in 2013, near Cowen Road. This was built by voluntary labour as Witnesses from all over the North-East donned hard hats and work gear, working under the supervision of professional builders.

In Winlaton, the parish church of Winlaton opened in 1828, the Congregational church in 1829, and the Wesleyan Chapel in 1868. The latter two united to form Winlaton United Reformed-Methodist Church, but this closed in August 2015, with some members moving to join Trinity Methodist Church in Blaydon. The Primitive Methodists had opened a building in 1850, which was extended in 1895, and was later to become the Blaydon Corps of the Salvation Army; this corps closed in September 2012. St Anne's Catholic Church in Winlaton was opened in 1962.

Sports

The Blaydon area is the origin of the well-known traditional song "Blaydon Races", written by local musician and showman George 'Geordie' Ridley in 1862. The town's athletic club – the Blaydon Harriers – organise a road running race (called the Blaydon Race) every year on 9 June. The route of the race follows the route outlined by Ridley in his song. The traditional starting point lies outside Balmbra's pub in Newcastle's Bigg Market, and the race follows a course along Scotswood Road before crossing the River Tyne and ultimately finishing in Blaydon town centre. Local councillors, societies and notaries have in recent years organised an annual Blaydon Festival with music, sport and arts events that coincides with the week of race day.

As well as the Blaydon races, The Blaydon Harriers organise regular race meetings on the Shibdon Pond fields (and other venues) throughout the year. These are usually well-attended both by participants and spectators. The Harriers' colours are orange and black.

The rugby union club, Blaydon RFC play in the English National League 2 North, the fourth tier of the English rugby union system and a high level considering the size of the town. The Crow Trees rugby ground is situated to the east of the town, in neighbouring Swalwell. Blaydon RFC play in red shirts and white shorts. The former England international Mick Skinner played for Blaydon. Their smaller but no less illustrious neighbours, Winlaton Vulcans RFC play in Durham and Northumberland Division 2 and number Ken Goodall, the former Ireland and British Lion International, as one of their former players. They play in black shirts, shorts and socks with the club badge of an arm gripping a hammer over an anvil depicting their heritage being formed from the steelworking heritage of the area.

Since 2013 Blaydon has also been host to Blaydon Cycle Club, meeting weekly and throughout the week catering from novice cyclists right through to having a race team competing in local and national events.

Notable people

Alun Armstrong, former professional footballer with Ipswich Town F.C. and Middlesbrough FC

Peter Armstrong, the poet and psychotherapist, was born in Blaydon

Sir Thomas Clavering, 7th Baronet, owner of Axwell Hall

Joseph Cowen, 19th century politician and journalist

Graham Onions, Durham and England cricketer

Bert Tulloch, former professional footballer with Blackpool

Gavin Webster, stand-up comedian

William Widdrington, 4th Baron Widdrington, owner of Stella Hall

Culture

Live jazz and rock music is regularly performed at the Black Bull pub near Blaydon Bridge. Although many pubs were demolished during the refurbishment of the town in the 1970s, a number of pubs still exist in and around the precinct, along with the Staffs (formerly the Railway Staff Club). The Blaydon and District Social Club – a former working men's club – and the Blaydon House Sports and Social Club (formerly the Conservative Club), which occupied the house of the nineteenth-century Doctor Morrison, and was reputedly the oldest building in Blaydon, were both demolished in 2020–2021 to make way for housing. The façade of Blaydon House was incorporated into a new building. The Masonic Hall on Blaydon Bank was closed in 2015, with Lodge meetings transferring to Ryton Masonic Hall.

Alnwick Castle Home Of Ralph Percy The 12th Duke Of Northumberland, Sir Henry Percy (Hotspur) Statue, Alnwick, Northumberland, England. by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

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Sir Henry Percy KG (20 May 1364 – 21 July 1403), nicknamed Hotspur, was an English knight who fought in several campaigns against the Scots in the northern border and against the French during the Hundred Years' War. The nickname "Hotspur" was given to him by the Scots as a tribute to his speed in advance and readiness to attack. The heir to a leading noble family in northern England, Hotspur was one of the earliest and prime movers behind the deposition of King Richard II in favour of Henry Bolingbroke in 1399. He later fell out with the new regime and rebelled, and was slain at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403 at the height of his fame.

Henry Percy was born 20 May 1364 at either Alnwick Castle or Warkworth Castle in Northumberland, the eldest son of Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, and Margaret Neville, daughter of Ralph de Neville, 2nd Lord Neville of Raby, and Alice de Audley. He was knighted by King Edward III in April 1377, together with the future Kings Richard II and Henry IV. In 1380, he was in Ireland with the Earl of March, and in 1383, he travelled in Prussia. He was appointed warden of the east march either on 30 July 1384 or in May 1385, and in 1385 accompanied Richard II on an expedition into Scotland. "As a tribute to his speed in advance and readiness to attack" on the Scottish borders, the Scots bestowed on him the name 'Haatspore'. In April 1386, he was sent to France to reinforce the garrison at Calais and led raids into Picardy. Between August and October 1387, he was in command of a naval force in an attempt to relieve the siege of Brest. In appreciation of these military endeavours, at the age of 24 he was made a Knight of the Garter in 1388. Reappointed as warden of the east march, he commanded the English forces against James Douglas, 2nd Earl of Douglas, at the Battle of Otterburn on 10 August 1388, where he was captured, but soon ransomed for a fee of 7000 marks.

During the next few years Percy's reputation continued to grow. Although not 30, he was sent on a diplomatic mission to Cyprus in June 1393 and appointed Lieutenant of the Duchy of Aquitaine (1394–98) on behalf of John of Gaunt, Duke of Aquitaine. He returned to England in January 1395, taking part in Richard II's expedition to Ireland, and was back in Aquitaine the following autumn. In the summer of 1396, he was again in Calais.

Percy's military and diplomatic service brought him substantial marks of royal favour in the form of grants and appointments, but despite this, the Percy family decided to support Henry Bolingbroke, the future Henry IV, in his rebellion against Richard II. On Henry's return from exile in June 1399, Percy and his father joined his forces at Doncaster and marched south with them. After King Richard's deposition, Percy and his father were 'lavishly rewarded' with lands and offices.

Under the new king, Percy had extensive civil and military responsibility in both the east march towards Wales, where he was appointed High Sheriff of Flintshire in 1399, and in the north toward Scotland. In north Wales, he was under increasing pressure as a result of the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr. In March 1402, Henry IV appointed Percy royal lieutenant in north Wales, and on 14 September 1402, Percy, his father, and the Earl of Dunbar and March were victorious against a Scottish force at the Battle of Homildon Hill. Among others, they made a prisoner of Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas.

In spite of the favour that Henry IV showed the Percys in many respects, they became increasingly discontented with him. Among their grievances were:

The king's failure to pay the wages due them for defending the Scottish border

The king's favour towards Dunbar

The king's demand that the Percys hand over their Scottish prisoners

The king's failure to put an end to Owain Glyndŵr's rebellion through a negotiated settlement

The king's increasing promotion of his son's (Prince Henry) military authority in Wales

The king's failure to ransom Henry Percy's brother-in-law, Sir Edmund Mortimer, whom the Welsh had captured in June 1402

Spurred by these grievances, the Percys rebelled in the summer of 1403 and took up arms against the king. According to J. M. W. Bean, it is clear that the Percys were in collusion with Glyndŵr. On his return to England shortly after the victory at Homildon Hill, Henry Percy issued proclamations in Cheshire accusing the king of 'tyrannical government'.

Joined by his uncle, Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester, Percy marched to Shrewsbury, where he intended to do battle against a force there under the command of the Prince of Wales. The army of his father, however, was slow to move south and it was without the assistance of his father that Henry Percy and Worcester arrived at Shrewsbury on 21 July 1403, where they encountered the king with a large army. The ensuing Battle of Shrewsbury was fierce, with heavy casualties on both sides but, when Henry Percy himself was struck down and killed, his own forces fled.

A 14-foot (4.3 m) statue of Henry Percy was unveiled in Alnwick by the Duke of Northumberland in 2010.

Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, England. by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

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Gateshead is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, The Glasshouse International Centre for Music and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. The town shares the Millennium Bridge, Tyne Bridge and multiple other bridges with Newcastle upon Tyne.

St Jame's Park, London, England. by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

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St James's Park is a 23-hectare (57-acre) urban park in the City of Westminster, central London. A Royal Park, it is at the southernmost end of the St James's area, which was named after a once isolated medieval hospital dedicated to St James the Less, now the site of St James's Palace. The area was initially enclosed for a deer park near the Palace of Whitehall for King Henry VIII in the 1530s. It is the most easterly of a near-continuous chain of public parks that includes (moving westward) Green Park, Hyde Park, and Kensington Gardens.

The park is bounded by Buckingham Palace to the west, The Mall to the north, Horse Guards to the east, and Birdcage Walk to the south. It meets Green Park at Queen's Gardens with the Victoria Memorial at its centre, opposite the entrance to Buckingham Palace. St James's Palace is on the opposite side of The Mall. The closest London Underground stations are St James's Park, Green Park, Victoria, and Westminster.

The park is Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.

Beamish Open Air Museum, Classic Car Show 2015, Beamish, County Durham, England. by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

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Beamish Museum is the first regional open-air museum, in England, located at Beamish, near the town of Stanley, in County Durham, England. Beamish pioneered the concept of a living museum. By displaying duplicates or replaceable items, it was also an early example of the now commonplace practice of museums allowing visitors to touch objects.

The museum's guiding principle is to preserve an example of everyday life in urban and rural North East England at the climax of industrialisation in the early 20th century. Much of the restoration and interpretation is specific to the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, together with portions of countryside under the influence of Industrial Revolution from 1825. On its 350 acres (140 ha) estate it uses a mixture of translocated, original and replica buildings, a large collection of artefacts, working vehicles and equipment, as well as livestock and costumed interpreters.

The museum has received a number of awards since it opened to visitors in 1972 and has influenced other living museums.[citation needed] It is an educational resource, and also helps to preserve some traditional and rare north-country livestock breeds.

In 1958, days after starting as director of the Bowes Museum, inspired by Scandinavian folk museums, and realising the North East's traditional industries and communities were disappearing, Frank Atkinson presented a report to Durham County Council urging that a collection of items of everyday history on a large scale should begin as soon as possible, so that eventually an open air museum could be established. As well as objects, Atkinson was also aiming to preserve the region's customs and dialect. He stated the new museum should "attempt to make the history of the region live" and illustrate the way of life of ordinary people. He hoped the museum would be run by, be about and exist for the local populace, desiring them to see the museum as theirs, featuring items collected from them.

Fearing it was now almost too late, Atkinson adopted a policy of "unselective collecting" — "you offer it to us and we will collect it." Donations ranged in size from small items to locomotives and shops, and Atkinson initially took advantage of a surplus of space available in the 19th-century French chateau-style building housing the Bowes Museum to store items donated for the open air museum. With this space soon filled, a former British Army tank depot at Brancepeth was taken over, although in just a short time its entire complement of 22 huts and hangars had been filled, too.

In 1966, a working party was established to set up a museum "for the purpose of studying, collecting, preserving and exhibiting buildings, machinery, objects and information illustrating the development of industry and the way of life of the north of England", and it selected Beamish Hall, having been vacated by the National Coal Board, as a suitable location.

In August 1970, with Atkinson appointed as its first full-time director together with three staff members, the museum was first established by moving some of the collections into the hall. In 1971, an introductory exhibition, "Museum in the Making" opened at the hall.

The museum was opened to visitors on its current site for the first time in 1972, with the first translocated buildings (the railway station and colliery winding engine) being erected the following year. The first trams began operating on a short demonstration line in 1973. The Town station was formally opened in 1976, the same year the reconstruction of the colliery winding engine house was completed, and the miners' cottages were relocated. Opening of the drift mine as an exhibit followed in 1979.

In 1975 the museum was visited by the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and by Anne, Princess Royal, in 2002. In 2006, as the Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England, The Duke of Kent visited, to open the town masonic lodge.

With the Co-op having opened in 1984, the town area was officially opened in 1985. The pub had opened in the same year, with Ravensworth Terrace having been reconstructed from 1980 to 1985. The newspaper branch office had also been built in the mid-1980s. Elsewhere, the farm on the west side of the site (which became Home Farm) opened in 1983. The present arrangement of visitors entering from the south was introduced in 1986.

At the beginning of the 1990s, further developments in the Pit Village were opened, the chapel in 1990, and the board school in 1992. The whole tram circle was in operation by 1993. Further additions to the Town came in 1994 with the opening of the sweet shop and motor garage,Beamish Museum 2014 followed by the bank in 1999. The first Georgian component of the museum arrived when Pockerley Old Hall opened in 1995, followed by the Pockerley Waggonway in 2001.

In the early 2000s two large modern buildings were added, to augment the museum's operations and storage capacity - the Regional Resource Centre on the west side opened in 2001, followed by the Regional Museums Store next to the railway station in 2002. Due to its proximity, the latter has been cosmetically presented as Beamish Waggon and Iron Works. Additions to display areas came in the form of the Masonic lodge (2006) and the Lamp Cabin in the Colliery (2009). In 2010, the entrance building and tea rooms were refurbished.

Into the 2010s, further buildings were added - the fish and chip shop (opened 2011) band hall (opened 2013) and pit pony stables (built 2013/14) in the Pit Village, plus a bakery (opened 2013) and chemist and photographers (opened 2016) being added to the town. St Helen's Church, in the Georgian landscape, opened in November 2015.

Willington Dene Viaduct, Tyne & Wear Metro Bridge, Wallsend Burn, North Tyneside, Tyne & Wear, England. by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

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Willington Dene Viaduct carries the Tyne and Wear Metro railway over the Wallsend Burn between Wallsend and Howdon, Tyne and Wear. Designed by architects John and Benjamin Green, it was originally built in the late 1830s for the Newcastle & North Shields Railway. It is a Grade II listed building.

The viaduct is 1,048 ft (319 m) long and 76 ft (23 m) high with seven segmental arches each of 120 ft (37 m) span. When originally built the viaducts were made of laminated timber construction on the Wiebeking system supported on tall stone pillars and cost £25,000. Each arch was made from 14 layers of 22 by 3.5 inches (559 mm × 89 mm) timbers held together by trenails and built by Messrs. Robson. A paper on the viaducts's design won Benjamin Green a silver Telford Medal from the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1841.

The viaduct was rebuilt in wrought iron between 1867 and 1869 by the Weardale Iron & Coal Company to the designs of engineer Thomas Elliot Harrison, preserving the bridge's original shape and form. It now carries the Tyne and Wear Metro rapid transport system between Newcastle and North Shields.

The Newcastle & North Shields Railway opened in June 1839 from a temporary terminus in Carliol Square in Newcastle upon Tyne to North Shields. The railway was absorbed by the Newcastle & Berwick Railway in November 1844. The Newcastle & Berwick Railway was itself absorbed by the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway, and this became part of the North Eastern Railway in 1854.

Tynemouth was served from 1847 and Newcastle Central replaced the original station in 1850. In 1882 the station at Tynemouth was replaced by a through station when the line and the former Blyth and Tyne Railway line were linked. The route was electrified in 1904 as part of the Tyneside Electrics programme.

John and Benjamin Green were a father and son who worked in partnership as architects in North East England during the early nineteenth century. John, the father was a civil engineer as well as an architect. Although they did carry out some commissions separately, they were given joint credit for many of their projects, and it is difficult to attribute much of their work to a single individual. In general, John Green worked on civil engineering projects, such as road and rail bridges, whereas Benjamin worked on projects that were more purely architectural. Their work was predominantly church and railway architecture, with a sprinkling of public buildings that includes their masterpiece, Newcastle's Theatre Royal.

Drawings by John and Benjamin Green are held by the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Biographies

John Green

John Green was born on 29 June 1787 at Newton Fell House, Nafferton, two miles north of Ovington, Northumberland. He was the son of Benjamin Green, a carpenter and maker of agricultural implements. After finishing school, he worked in his father's business. The firm moved to the market town of Corbridge and began general building work with young John concentrating on architectural work. About 1820, John set up business as an architect and civil engineer in nearby Newcastle upon Tyne.

John Green married Jane Stobart in 1805, and they had two sons, John (c.1807–68) and Benjamin (c1811-58), both of whom became architects. Little is known about the career of John, but Benjamin worked in partnership with his father on many projects.

In 1822 John Green designed a new building for the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society. The building, which houses the society's substantial library, is still in use today. He also designed a number of farmhouses, being employed on the Beaufront estate near Hexham and also on the Duke of Northumberland’s estates.

John Green was principally a civil engineer, and built several road and rail bridges. In 1829–31 he built two wrought-iron suspension bridges crossing the Tyne (at Scotswood) and the Tees (at Whorlton). The bridge at Scotswood was demolished in 1967 but the one at Whorlton still survives. When the High Level Bridge at Newcastle was proposed ten years later, John Green submitted plans, but those of Robert Stephenson were accepted by the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway. Green also built a number of bridges using an innovative system of laminated timber arches on masonry piers, the Weibeking system, based on the work of Bavarian engineer C.F. Weibeking. The two he built for the Newcastle and North Shields Railway, at the Ouseburn and at Willington Quay remain in use, though the timbers were replaced with wrought iron in a similar lattice pattern in 1869. In 1840 he was elected to the Institution of Civil Engineers, and in 1841 he was awarded the institution's Telford Medal for his work on laminated arch design.

John Green died in Newcastle on 30 September 1852.

Benjamin Green

Benjamin Green was a pupil of Augustus Charles Pugin, father of the more famous Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin. In the mid-1830s he became a partner of his father and remained so until the latter's death in 1852. The two partners differed somewhat. John has been described as a 'plain, practical, shrewd man of business' with a 'plain, severe and economical' style, whereas Benjamin was 'an artistic, dashing sort of fellow', with a style that was 'ornamental, florid and costly'.

The Greens worked as railway architects and it is believed that all the main line stations between Newcastle and Berwick upon Tweed were designed by Benjamin. In 2020 Morpeth Station was restored to Green's original designs following a £2.3M investment. They also designed a number of Northumbrian churches, the best examples being at Earsdon and Cambo.

The Green's most important commissions in Newcastle were the Theatre Royal (1836–37) and the column for Grey's Monument (1837–38). Both of these structures were part of the re-development of Newcastle city centre in neo-classical style by Richard Grainger, and both exist today. Although both of the partners were credited with their design, it is believed that Benjamin was the person responsible.

Another well-known structure designed by the Greens is Penshaw Monument (1844). This is a folly standing on Penshaw Hill in County Durham. It was built as a half-sized replica of the renowned Temple of Hephaestus in Athens, and was dedicated to John George Lambton, first Earl of Durham and the first Governor of the Province of Canada. The monument, being built on a hill is visible for miles around and is a famous local landmark. It is now owned by the National Trust.

Benjamin Green survived his father by only six years, and died in a mental home at Dinsdale Park, County Durham on 14 November 1858.

Major works

Presbyterian Chapel, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1822 (demolished 2011)

Literary and Philosophical Society, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1822–1825

St Peter's Church, Falstone, 1824–1825

Westgate Hill Cemetery, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1825–1829 (lodge demolished 1970, railings and gates removed, piers and basic layout remains)

Ingram Farm, Ingram, 1826

Whorlton Suspension Bridge, Wycliffe, County Durham, 1829–1831

Hawks Cottages, Gateshead, 1830 (demolished 1960)

Scotswood Chain Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1831, (demolished 1967)

Church of St Mary and St Thomas Aquinas, Stella, 1831–1832[1]

Bellingham Bridge, Bellingham, 1834

Holy Trinity Church, Stockton-On-Tees, 1834–1835[2]

Holy Trinity Church, Dalton (near Stamfordham), 1836

Vicarage of St Alban, Earsdon, 1836

Church of St Alban, Earsdon, 1836–1837

St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Alnwick, 1836

Church of the Holy Saviour, Newburn, 1836–1837

Poor Law Guardians Hall, North Shields, 1837

Master Mariners Homes, Tynemouth, 1837–1840[3]

Theatre Royal, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1837

Parish Hall of the Church of the Holy Saviour, Newburn, 1838

Column of Grey's Monument, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1838

Willington Viaduct, Wallsend, 1837–1839

Ouseburn Viaduct, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1837–1839

Church of the Holy Saviour, Tynemouth, 1839–1841

Ilderton Vicarage, Ilderton, 1841

The Red Cottage, Whitburn, 1842

Holy Trinity Church, Cambo, 1842

Holy Trinity Church, Horsley-on-Rede, 1844

The Earl of Durham's Monument, Sunderland, 1844

St Edwin's, Coniscliffe, Co. Durham, 1844 (restoration of mediaeval church)

40–44 Moseley Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1845

Witham Testimonial Hall, Barnard Castle, 1846

Old Railway Station, Tynemouth Rd, Tynemouth 1846–1847

Acklington Station, Acklington, 1847

Chathill Station, Chathill, 1847

Belford Station, Belford, Northumberland, 1847

Morpeth Station, Morpeth, Northumberland, 1847

Warkworth Station, Warkworth, Northumberland, 1847

Holy Trinity Church, Seghill, 1849

Newcastle Joint Stock Bank, St Nicholas Square, Newcastle, c.1850

Norham station, Norham, 1851

St Paul's Church, Elswick, 1854

All Saints Cemetery, Jesmond, 1854

Sailor's Home, 11 New Quay, North Shields, 1856

United Free Methodist Church, North Shields, 1857

Corn Exchange, Groat Market, Newcastle (demolished 1974)

The Weardale Iron and Coal Company, established in the 1840s, produced iron and steel at Tow Law and Tudhoe in County Durham in England, where it also owned collieries.

History

The founder of the company, Charles Attwood (1791–1875), was born in Halesowen in the west midlands of England; his father and grandfather were involved in the iron industry of that area. His brothers Matthias Attwood and Thomas Attwood were bankers and politicians, and other brothers also had notable careers. Charles Attwood had other business interests during his career, and was a politician.

The company, founded in 1845 as the Weardale Iron Company, was created to exploit iron ore in Weardale; leasing rights were obtained there in the manors of Stanhope and Wolsingham. Six blast furnaces were built at Tow Law in County Durham, and the company built a railway to transport the iron ore to the ironworks. The company became in 1846 the Weardale Iron and Coal Company, with Attwood as a managing partner; it was controlled financially by Baring Brothers. Collieries were established in the area, and the company built houses for employees.

In 1853, an ironworks was built in Tudhoe, near Spennymoor in County Durham. Forges and rolling mills were built, and collieries were opened.

In 1861 the company began to make steel by the Bessemer process in Tudhoe, the first to do so in northern England. At Tow Law Attwood was the first licensee of the Siemens regenerative furnace to make steel.

In 1865 Attwood retired as managing partner of the company. The ironworks at Tow Law had closed by 1882; Tudhoe Iron and Steel Works had closed by 1901.

The Tyne and Wear Metro is an overground and underground light rail rapid transit system serving Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, and the City of Sunderland (together forming Tyne and Wear). It has been described as the "first modern light rail system in the United Kingdom". The system is currently both owned and operated by the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive (Nexus), thus is fully under public ownership and operation.

The 'Metro’ was originally conceived of during the early 1970s, incorporating much of the earlier infrastructure formerly used by the Tyneside Electrics suburban network, with some elements dating back as far as 1834. Construction work began in 1974, the majority of this activity being centered on the building of new tunnels and bridges that linked with several preexisting conventional railway lines that were converted. In parallel, a purpose-built fleet of Metrocars was procured. The initial portion of the Tyne and Wear Metro was opened during August 1980, although construction of the original network was not completed until March 1984. Early on, Metro operations were integrated with local bus services, although this practice ended with the deregulation of the buses during the late 1980s.

Multiple extensions to the original network were promptly worked upon; the first of these, from Bank Foot to Newcastle Airport, was opened during November 1991. A second extension, from Pelaw to Sunderland and South Hylton, was completed in March 2002. By 2013, the network comprised a total of 60 stations (these being a mixture of underground and above-ground stations) across two lines, covering 77.5 km (48.2 mi) of track. While the Metro has largely been operated by Nexus directly, for a period between 2010 and 2017, the Metro was operated under a concession by DB Regio instead; upon the expiry of the contract, it returned to being operated by Nexus.

In 2018–19, an estimated 36.4 million passenger journeys were made on the Metro, making it the third-most used light rail network in the United Kingdom after London's Docklands Light Railway (121.8 million passenger journeys) and Manchester Metrolink (43.7 million passenger journeys). Various improvements are underway as of March 2024. During 2016, Nexus launched a programme to replace its existing rolling stock, which dates back to the 1980s, with new Class 555 articulated light rail trains; these are scheduled to enter service during mid 2020s. Under the Metro Flow scheme, announced in March 2020, works costing £103 million are to increase the service frequency from five to six trains per hour, reduce journey times and improve reliability levels.

United Kingdom. by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in north-western Europe, off the coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The UK includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and most of the smaller islands within the British Isles, covering 94,354 square miles (244,376 km2). Northern Ireland shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland; otherwise, the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea. It maintains sovereignty over the British Overseas Territories, which are located across various oceans and seas globally. The UK had an estimated population of over 68.2 million people in 2023. The capital and largest city of both England and the UK is London. The cities of Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast are the national capitals of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland respectively.

The UK has been inhabited continuously since the Neolithic. In AD 43 the Roman conquest of Britain began; the Roman departure was followed by Anglo-Saxon settlement. In 1066 the Normans conquered England. With the end of the Wars of the Roses the Kingdom of England stabilised and began to grow in power, resulting by the 16th century in the annexation of Wales and the establishment of the British Empire. Over the course of the 17th century the role of the British monarchy was reduced, particularly as a result of the English Civil War. In 1707 the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland united under the Treaty of Union to create the Kingdom of Great Britain. In the Georgian era the office of prime minister became established. The Acts of Union 1800 incorporated the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801. Most of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922 as the Irish Free State, and the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 created the present United Kingdom.

The UK became the first industrialised country and was the world's foremost power for the majority of the 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly during the Pax Britannica between 1815 and 1914. The British Empire was the leading economic power for most of the 19th century, a position supported by its agricultural prosperity, its role as a dominant trading nation, a massive industrial capacity, significant technological achievements, and the rise of 19th-century London as the world's principal financial centre. At its height in the 1920s the empire encompassed almost a quarter of the world's landmass and population, and was the largest empire in history. However, its involvement in the First World War and the Second World War damaged Britain's economic power, and a global wave of decolonisation led to the independence of most British colonies.

The UK is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy with three distinct jurisdictions: England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Since 1999 Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own governments and parliaments which control various devolved matters. A developed country with an advanced economy, the UK ranks amongst the largest economies by nominal GDP, and is one of the world's largest exporters and importers. As a nuclear state with one of the world's highest defence budgets, the UK maintains one of the strongest militaries in Europe. Its soft power influence can be observed in the legal and political systems of many of its former colonies, and British culture remains globally influential, particularly in language, literature, music and sport. A great power, the UK is part of numerous international organisations and forums.

Kinder Reservoir by cattan2011

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Kinder Reservoir

Dunstanburgh Castle, England. by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

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Dunstanburgh Castle is a 14th-century fortification on the coast of Northumberland in northern England, between the villages of Craster and Embleton. The castle was built by Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster between 1313 and 1322, taking advantage of the site's natural defences and the existing earthworks of an Iron Age fort. Thomas was a leader of a baronial faction opposed to King Edward II, and probably intended Dunstanburgh to act as a secure refuge, should the political situation in southern England deteriorate. The castle also served as a statement of the Earl's wealth and influence and would have invited comparisons with the neighbouring royal castle of Bamburgh. Thomas probably only visited his new castle once, before being captured at the Battle of Boroughbridge in 1322 as he attempted to flee royal forces for the safety of Dunstanburgh. Thomas was executed, and the castle became the property of the Crown before passing into the Duchy of Lancaster.

Warkworth Castle, Warkworth, Northumberland, England. by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

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Warkworth Castle is a ruined medieval castle in Warkworth in the English county of Northumberland. The village and castle occupy a loop of the River Coquet, less than a mile from England's north-east coast. When the castle was founded is uncertain: traditionally its construction has been ascribed to Prince Henry of Scotland, Earl of Northumbria, in the mid-12th century, but it may have been built by King Henry II of England when he took control of England's northern counties. Warkworth Castle was first documented in a charter of 1157–1164 when Henry II granted it to Roger fitz Richard. The timber castle was considered "feeble", and was left undefended when the Scots invaded in 1173.

Roger's son Robert inherited and improved the castle. Robert was a favourite of King John, and hosted him at Warkworth Castle in 1213. The castle remained in the family line, with periods of guardianship when heirs were too young to control their estates. King Edward I stayed overnight in 1292 and John de Clavering, descendant of Roger fitz Richard, made the Crown his inheritor. With the outbreak of the Anglo-Scottish Wars, Edward II invested in castles, including Warkworth, where he funded the strengthening of the garrison in 1319. Twice in 1327 the Scots besieged the castle without success.

John de Clavering died in 1332 and his widow in 1345, at which point The 2nd Baron Percy of Alnwick took control of Warkworth Castle, having been promised Clavering's property by Edward III. Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, added the imposing keep overlooking the village of Warkworth in the late 14th century. The fourth earl remodelled the buildings in the bailey and began the construction of a collegiate church within the castle, but work on the latter was abandoned after his death. Although The 10th Earl of Northumberland supported Parliament during the English Civil War, the castle was damaged during the conflict. The last Percy earl died in 1670. In the mid-18th century the castle found its way into the hands of Hugh Smithson, who married the indirect Percy heiress. He adopted the surname "Percy" and founded the dynasty of the Dukes of Northumberland, through whom possession of the castle descended.

In the late 19th century, the dukes refurbished Warkworth Castle and Anthony Salvin was commissioned to restore the keep. The 8th Duke of Northumberland gave custody of the castle to the Office of Works in 1922. Since 1984 English Heritage has cared for the site, which is a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Although the settlement of Warkworth in Northumberland dates back to at least the 8th century, the first castle was not built until after the Norman Conquest. The town and its castle occupied a loop of the River Coquet. The castle was built at the south end of the town, guarding the narrow neck of the loop. A fortified bridge also defended the approach to the town. The surrounding lowland countryside was favourable for agriculture. When the castle was founded and by whom is uncertain, though traditionally Prince Henry of Scotland, Earl of Northumberland, has been thought responsible. With civil war in South West England, King Stephen of England needed to ensure northern England was secure. To this end, the Treaty of Durham in 1139 between Scotland and England ensured peace. Under the treaty Henry of Scotland became Earl of Northumbria in exchange for ceding control of the castles at Bamburgh and Newcastle to the English. Without them Henry would have needed a new seat from which to exercise his authority, and a new castle at Warkworth may have met the requirement. However, charters show that Henry still controlled Bamburgh Castle after the treaty, and as Warkworth was a modest castle by contemporary standards it may have been founded by someone else. Henry died in 1152 and his son, Malcolm (crowned King of Scotland in 1153), inherited his lands. In 1157 Malcolm travelled to Peveril Castle in Derbyshire, where he paid homage to the new King of England, Henry II. Malcolm surrendered England's northern counties to Henry, including the castles of Bamburgh, Carlisle, and Newcastle, and probably Appleby, Brough, Wark, and Warkworth, though it is possible that Henry II founded Warkworth Castle in 1157 to secure his lands in Northumberland; other contemporary castles in the area were built for this purpose, for instance the one at Harbottle.

The first mention of Warkworth Castle occurs in a charter of 1157–1164 from Henry II granting the castle and surrounding manor to Roger fitz Richard,[4] a member of a noble Norman family. It has been suggested that this charter may have used the term castle to describe a high-status residence on the site, possibly dating from the Anglo-Saxon period, meaning Roger may have built the castle. He owned lands across a wide area, and Warkworth may have been of little significance in the context of his other holdings. When the Scots invaded Northumberland in 1173, although Roger fitz Richard was in the county Warkworth Castle was not defended by its garrison. Its defences at the time were described as "feeble". In 1174 Duncan II, Earl of Fife, raided Warkworth. The contemporary record does not mention the castle, and instead notes that Warkworth's inhabitants sought refuge in the church. When Roger fitz Richard died in 1178 his son and heir, Robert fitz Roger, was still a child. A guardian looked after the family estates until Robert came of age in 1191. He paid the Crown 300 marks in 1199 for confirmation of his ownership of Warkworth, including the castle. Substantial building work at Warkworth Castle is attributed to Robert. A favourite of King John, Robert hosted him at Warkworth Castle in 1213.

Warkworth Castle continued to descend through the family line when Robert fitz Roger was succeeded by his son John in 1214, who was succeeded by his son Roger in 1240. Roger died in 1249 when his son Robert was one year old, and a guardian was appointed to care for the family's estates: William de Valence, half-brother of King Henry III. The castle, characterised by this time by the chronicler Matthew Paris as "noble",[10] remained under the guardianship of Valence until 1268, when it reverted to Robert fitz John. King Edward I of England stayed at Warkworth Castle for a night in 1292. The English king was asked to mediate in a dispute over the Scottish throne and laid his own claim, leading to the Anglo-Scottish Wars. After the Scottish victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297, Robert and his son, John de Clavering, were captured. They were subsequently released and in 1310 John assumed control of the family estates. A year later, John made arrangements so that on his death the king would receive all of his property. Between roughly 1310 and 1330 the English struggled to deal with Scottish raids in northern England. Such was the importance of large castles during the Scottish Wars that the Crown subsidised their maintenance and even construction. In 1319, King Edward II paid for a garrison for the castle of four men-at-arms and eight hobilars to enhance the existing force of twelve men-at-arms. Ralph Neville was the keeper of Warkworth Castle in 1322. As he was married to John's daughter, Euphemia, Ralph may have hoped to inherit the Clavering estates, but that did not happen. Twice in 1327 Scottish forces besieged the castle without success.

Around this time, the Percy family was becoming Northumberland's most powerful dynasty. Henry de Percy, 2nd Baron Percy, was in the service of Edward III and was paid 500 marks a year in perpetuity in return for leading a company of men-at-arms. In exchange for the annual fee, in 1328 Percy was promised the rights to the Clavering estates. Parliament declared such contracts illegal in 1331, but after initially relinquishing his claim Percy was granted special permission to inherit. John de Clavering died in 1332 and his widow in 1345, at which point the family's estates became the property of the Percys. While the Percys owned Alnwick Castle, which was considered more prestigious, Warkworth was the family's preferred home. Under the Percys a park was created nearby for hunting, and within the castle two residential blocks were created, described by historian John Goodall as "of unparalleled quality and sophistication in Northumberland". The second baron died at Warkworth in 1352.

In 1377 the fourth Baron Percy, also named Henry, was made the first Earl of Northumberland (becoming the first family from northern England to be granted an earldom) in recognition of his extensive power in the march areas along the Anglo-Scottish border. With a network of contacts and dependencies, the Percys were the pre-eminent family in northern England in the 14th century "for they have the hertes of the people by north and ever had", in the words of contemporaneous chronicler John Hardyng. Henry Percy commissioned the building of the distinctive keep shortly after he was made Earl of Northumberland. Percy may have enhanced his main castle to compete with John of Gaunt, who rebuilt the nearby Dunstanburgh Castle, or with the House of Neville, a family becoming increasingly powerful in northern England and who undertook a programme of building at the castles of Brancepeth, Raby, Bamburgh, Middleham, and Sheriff Hutton. Architectural similarities between Warkworth's keep, Bolton Castle, and the domestic buildings at Bamburgh Castle suggest that John Lewyn was the master mason responsible for building Warkworth's keep. Earl Henry helped dethrone Richard II and replace him with Henry IV. The earl and his eldest son Henry "Hotspur" Percy fell out with the new king, and eventually rebelled. After Hotspur was killed at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403, his father fled to Warkworth. The earl eventually went to York to submit to the king. He was arrested and the king attempted to install his own men at the castles of Alnwick, Langley Castle, Prudhoe, and Warkworth. The earl's 14-year-old son claimed that he was loyal to the king but was not empowered to formally surrender the castle, and it remained under control of the Percys. Henry was pardoned in 1404.

Earl Henry rebelled again in 1405, this time joining the unsuccessful revolt of Richard Scrope, Archbishop of York. While Henry was fleeing north after the failed rebellion, his castles offered some resistance before submitting to royal forces. Warkworth itself was well-provisioned and the garrison initially refused to surrender. However, according to a letter written by Henry IV from Warkworth after its fall, after just seven shots from his cannon the defenders capitulated. The castle was forfeited to the Crown, and was used by one of the King's sons, John, Duke of Bedford, who was appointed to rule the area. It remained in the ownership of the Crown until Henry V restored it to the Percy family in 1416, and at the same time made the son of "Hotspur" Henry, another Henry Percy, second Earl of Northumberland. It is known that the second earl resided at Warkworth and undertook building work there, but it is now unclear for which parts he was responsible.

The Percys supported the House of Lancaster during the Wars of the Roses, and the second earl and his successor – Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland – were killed at the battles of St Albans in 1455 and Towton in 1461 respectively.[25] The new king, Edward IV, issued an attainder against the family and their property was confiscated. On 1 August 1464, as a result of suppressing Lancastrian rebellions in the north for the previous three years, the title of Earl of Northumberland was given to The 1st Marquess of Montagu, a Yorkist, and with it, the castle. During his tenure, he constructed a twenty-five-foot tall rectangular tower, built for defence, "with [arrow] slits in the three outer walls;" this is known as 'Montagu's Tower' to this day. His brother, The 16th Earl of Warwick, used Warkworth as a base from which the Lancastrian-held castles of Northumberland – Alnwick, Bamburgh, and Dunstanburgh – were attacked and their sieges co-ordinated. In 1470 Edward IV returned the Percys' estates to the eldest son of the third earl, who was also called Henry Percy. A year later Henry was granted the earldom of Northumberland. Some time after 1472 Henry remodelled the building of the bailey. He also planned to build a collegiate church within the castle, but the work was abandoned after his death. When the fourth earl was murdered in 1489, his son, Henry Algernon, inherited and maintained the castle. In the early 16th century Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland, was responsible for clearing the collegiate church founded by his grandfather, but left incomplete by the fifth earl. Thomas Percy, brother of the sixth earl, was executed for his role in the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536. When Henry Percy died the next year without any sons, the family's property passed to the Crown.

In 1543 Sir William Parr, as warden of the Scottish marches decided to live at Warkworth and carried out repairs. Although royal officers still used the castle, by 1550 it had fallen into disrepair. In 1557 the Percy estates were restored to the descendants of Thomas, and the nephew of the sixth earl, another Thomas Percy, was given the earldom. He began a programme of repairs at the castle, and in the process dismantled "the hall and other houses of office".

The Rising of the North in 1569 saw Catholic nobles in northern England rebel against the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I. The Catholic Thomas Percy joined the rebellion and supporters congregated at the castles of Alnwick and Warkworth. Sir John Forster, Warden of the March, ordered those inside to leave and the castles were surrendered to his control. During the conflict that followed, Warkworth remained under royal control. Forster pillaged the castle, stripping it of its timbers and furnishings. The keep at least did not share in this fate, but in April 1572 Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon, bemoaned the treatment meted out to the Percy castles, writing to the queen's chief minister, "It is a great pity to see how Alnwick Castle and Warkworth are spoiled by him ... I am creditably informed that he means utterly to deface them both." An attainder was issued against Thomas Percy so that when he came into English custody he was executed without trial on 22 August. As a result, Percy's son was passed over, but under the terms of the attainder his brother was allowed to inherit. In 1574, Elizabeth granted Henry Percy permission to inherit the family's property and assume the title of 8th Earl of Northumberland.

The castle formed the backdrop for several scenes in William Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2. Another Henry Percy inherited the family estates in 1585 and assumed the title of 9th Earl of Northumberland. After the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605, the earl was imprisoned for his connection with Thomas Percy, one of the plotters. Shortly before he was sentenced (he was fined £30,000 and held in the Tower of London), the earl leased Warkworth Castle to Sir Ralph Gray, who owned Chillingham Castle in Northumberland. Gray neglected the earl's building and allowed it to fall further into disrepair. The lead from the buildings in the bailey was sold in 1607 to alleviate the earl's financial problems. When James I visited in 1617 en route to Scotland, his entourage was angered by the sorry state of the castle. With the unification of England and Scotland under a single ruler, the earls of Northumberland had no need for two great castles near the Anglo-Scottish border; they maintained Alnwick at the expense of Warkworth. In the first quarter of the 17th century, the keep was used to hold manor courts and for the laying out of oats.

The details surrounding Warkworth Castle's role in the English Civil War are unclear, but the conflict resulted in further damage to the structure. Initially held by Royalist forces, the castle was still important enough that when the Scots invaded in 1644 they forced its surrender. Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland, supported Parliament, which may have prevented the Scots from doing much damage to the castle.[34] Parliamentarian forces took over the castle in 1648; when they withdrew they removed the castle's doors and iron so that it could not be reused by the enemy. They may also have partially demolished some of the castle, and may be responsible for its present state. Algernon Percy unsuccessfully applied for compensation in 1649 for the damage.

The 11th Earl of Northumberland, the last Percy earl, died in 1670. Two years later his widow allowed the keep's materials to be reused to build Chirton Hall. A total of 272 cart-loads were taken from the keep. Lord Northumberland's property passed to The 7th Duke of Somerset through marriage. In 1698, the owners decided not to renovate Warkworth Castle after the estimate to add battlements, floors and new windows came in at £1,600. Lady Elizabeth Seymour inherited the property from her father in 1750. Her husband, Hugh Smithson, changed his name to Hugh Percy, and the castle then descended through the Dukes of Northumberland, a dynasty he founded.

During the 18th century the castle was allowed to languish. The south-west tower was falling apart and around 1752 part of the curtain wall east of the gatehouse was demolished (it was rebuilt towards the end of the century). The town and its historic ruins were by now attracting interest as a tourist destination, largely due to Bishop Thomas Percy's poem, The Hermit of Warkworth. In the mid 19th century, The 3rd Duke of Northumberland undertook some preservation work. His successor, The 4th Duke of Northumberland, contracted Anthony Salvin to restore the keep. The work undertaken between 1853 and 1858 was not as extensive as Salvin had planned, and was limited to partially refacing the exterior and adding new floors and roofs to two chambers, which became known as the Duke's Chambers, on the second floor. The Duke occasionally used the chambers for picnics when he visited from Alnwick Castle. The 4th Duke funded excavations at the castle in the 1850s which uncovered the remains of the collegiate church within the bailey.

In 1922, The 8th Duke of Northumberland granted custodianship of the castle to the Office of Works which had been made accountable for the guardianship of ancient monuments. The Duke's Chambers remained under the direct control of the Percys. The Office of Works undertook excavations in the moat in 1924 and removed the custodian from the gatehouse. English Heritage, who now manage and maintain the site, succeeded as the castle's custodians in 1984, and three years later the Duke's Chambers were given over to their care. The castle is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, a "nationally important" historic building and archaeological site which has been given protection against unauthorised change. It is also a Grade I listed building (first listed in 1985) and recognised as an internationally important structure. The castle continues to be officially owned by the Percy family, currently being owned by the 12th Duke of Northumberland.

Gisborough Priory, Guisborough, North Yorkshire, England. by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

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Gisborough Priory is a ruined Augustinian priory in Guisborough in the current borough of Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1119 as the Priory of St Mary by the Norman feudal magnate Robert de Brus, also an ancestor of the Scottish king, Robert the Bruce. It became one of the richest monastic foundations in England with grants from the crown and bequests from de Brus, other nobles and gentry and local people of more modest means. Much of the Romanesque Norman priory was destroyed in a fire in 1289. It was rebuilt in the Gothic style on a grander scale over the following century. Its remains are regarded as among the finest surviving examples of early Gothic architecture in England.

The priory prospered until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540, when it was abolished along with England's other monastic communities. The priory buildings were demolished and the stone re-used in other buildings in Guisborough. The east end of the priory church was left standing with its great window forming a distinctive arch, a well-known landmark used as a symbol for Guisborough. It became part of the estate of the Chaloner family, who acquired it in 1550. The east window was preserved by them as part of a Romantic vista adjoining their seat, Gisborough Hall, from which the priory takes its idiosyncratically spelled name. It is owned by the Chaloners but is in the care of English Heritage as a scheduled monument.

Since the 19th century archaeological excavations have taken place in the priory grounds, though a substantial part of the site has not yet been investigated. In addition to the east window, surviving visible fragments of the complex include the lower courses of the west range, a vaulted undercroft, a gateway and a 14th-century dovecote still in use today. The adjoining Priory Gardens, laid out by the Chaloners in the 18th century, are under restoration by a volunteer group. The priory ruins and gardens are open to the public throughout the year.

Beamish Open Air Museum, Beamish, County Durham, England. by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.