Northumberland Holiday Guide 2009
Holy Island of Lindisfarne, Mario Czekirda
Hexham Abbey: the abbey church is Medieval but the north. Unfortunately for Edward’s royal descendants, the
the crypt is Saxon and there are important Anglo-Saxon
Percys were a mixed blessing.
artefacts on display including St Wilfrid’s bishop’s throne and
the beautifully carved Acca’s Cross.
For 400 years the Percys fought both for and against English
kings as the fancy took them. Three times the male Percy line
Heavenfield Battlefield: on the first Sunday in August
was exiled and executed into extinction and three times Percy
King Oswald’s victory over the pagans is remembered with
women married well, charmed the reigning monarch and won
a pilgrimage from Hexham Abbey to the little chapel that
back their lands and titles. Thanks to their clever womenfolk,
marks Heavenfield battle site. Look for the wooden cross by
the Percy family still live in the mighty castle at Alnwick.
the side of the Military Road near Chollerford.
The Anglo-Scottish Wars
During the Middle Ages, the Anglo-Scots border gradually
Viking invasions reduced the Northumbrian kingdom to an
became fixed along a diagonal line of hilltops that stretch from
earldom and the Norman Conquest of 1066 brought final
the mouth of the Tweed to Carlisle. Along the Tweed Valley,
disaster. The Northumbrians offered the only serious resistance
the border was guarded by Norham, Etal, Ford and Berwick
to William the Conqueror and they were punished with the
castles whilst others at Chillingham, Edlingham, Chipchase,
‘Harrying of the North’ - a ruthless slaughter that turned once
Warkworth, Dunstanburgh and Harbottle (to name but a few)
prosperous Northumbria into a wasteland.
guarded the main roads and sea routes to the south.
Despite being besieged regularly for almost a thousand years,
The Scots took advantage of the chaos to push their border
many of these border castles survive in a remarkable state of
far to the south of Hadrian’s Wall. But in the next century, the
repair and today Northumberland has more Medieval military
Anglo-Norman kings smashed the Scot’s power at the Battle
monuments than any other county in England. Don’t miss:
of Standard, recaptured much of their lost territory and built
a chain of castles along the Tyne Valley. These early castles
Alnwick Castle: the mightiest of the border fortresses
include those at Prudhoe, Langley, Featherstone and the ‘new’ became a private palace during the 18
th
Century earning it
castle that gave the North East’s most famous city its name. the nickname ‘Windsor of the North’. The Medieval castle
and state apartments are open to the public along with the
Edward I, in his attempts to conquer Scotland, pushed the Hulne Park estate, designed by Capability Brown, and the
English border as far north as the River Tweed and captured
modern Alnwick Garden created by the current Duchess of
Berwick in an orgy of blood. But Edward II lost most of his
Northumberland.
father’s gains after the Battle of Bannockburn (1314) and the
Prudhoe Castle: perched on a wooded cliff above the
victorious Robert the Bruce raided as far south as Hexham.
Tyne, Prudhoe’s castle is an excellent example of an early
After Edward II’s murder, Edward III elevated the Percy family to
Medieval fortress. Open from March to September daily
the Earldom of Northumberland and charged them to defend
except Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
6 www.visitnorthumberland.com
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