"Edlingham Castle, Northumberland" Topic

It is not often I call a castle "a dinky delight" but the fortified manor house of Edlingham in Northumberland fits the bill. Built in the disputed and often raided Borders between England and Scotland it had to be capable of defence.

It started small as a stone hall with a palisade and ditch but the next generation had pretensions and built a solar tower (comfortable residential keep) on the sunny side of the building. Marks in the solar's wall suggest it would have been expanded further but never was.

Full set here:

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All photos are thumbnails and all open up bigger with a caption essay underneath. This would be an ideal modelling project for the medieval, Wars of the Roses or Renaissance periods as such castles were common in the Borders.

The site plan is here:

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Note that the courtyard is not square and appears to have been based on the minimum wall length to get around all the buildings. There was a wet moat outside but when the solar was built this was expanded on to the site of the moat and caused the structural instability which eventually split the solar tower.

If you are ever in Northumberland it is well worth a visit.

Barry

Very interesting.

@Greylegion:
Thank you. It would make a great modelling project especially as it could fit into the corner of a terrain board.
Still to come from me is Etal Castle which I swear looks like a child's toy castle from an old toy shop. Small, with a square ground plan, one big tower as a keep and a small courtyard surrounded by walls and a neat gatehouse which still has a portcullis. The first link below contains the ground plan for Etal if you scroll down.

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Barry

Nice report.

@Shagnasty:
Thank you.
B