Chillingham Castle, Northumberland
The home of Sir Humphry Wakefield Bt and the Hon Lady Wakefield
THE coastal strip of Northumbria between Morpeth and Berwick-upon-Tweed enjoys a concentration and splendour of castles without European parallel. In the late Middle Ages, this was the so-called Middle March, a borderland between England and Scotland. Following the Union of the Crowns under James I and VI in 1603, some of these castles fell into magnificent ruin, such as Norham, Warkworth and Dunstanburgh. Others have survived as living buildings. One such—by the skin of its teeth—is Chillingham Castle.
The remarkable story of its recent rescue from the brink by Sir Humphry and Lady Wakefield has already been described by Jeremy Musson (COUNTRY LIFE, April 22, 2004). Against the odds, they have repaired the fabric and, with a shared interest in collecting and the Arts, turned Chillingham into a castle of curiosity and beauty, every room filled with eye-catching objects. Comparing the images of this article with those taken in 2004, it is possible to see how they have further consolidated their remarkable achievement over the past two decades.
‘In 1344, Thomas of Heton sought a licence from Edward III to “fortify and battlement his manor of Chevelyngham”’
Chillingham is first documented in the 12th century as a possession of the powerful Vesci
