Title: |
Thirlwall Castle, Northumberland. Documentary Survey |
Number of Pages: |
92 |
Biblio Note |
Please note that this is a bibliographic record only, as originally entered into the BIAB database.
The ADS have no files for download, and unfortunately cannot advise further on where to access hard copy or digital versions.
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Publication Type: |
Report
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Abstract: |
This documentary study of Thirlwall Castle was commissioned by the Northumberland National Park Authority to complement its programme of archaeological investigation, consolidation and public display at the site. Although the surviving documentary evidence relating directly to the castle during the period of its occupation between the 14th and 17th centuries was relatively limited, something of the social and military context of its foundations and subsequent occupation could be deduced from numerous and diverse source material relating to the gentry lineage which owned and inhabited the building, the Thirlwalls of Thirlwall. In addition to documentary sources, the report incorporated an audit of both discrete and more extensive historical landscape components and presented a synthesis of the overall chronology of the defined area revealed by such remains. Although medieval documentary sources did not provide any evidence for the existence of a fortified stronghold earlier than the 14th century, an oval enclosure, which incorporated the stranding remains of the castle at one end, was visible on an aerial photograph of the site and may have represented an earlier fortification - an Iron Age fort or early feudal ringwork conceivably - or, alternatively, a barmkin contemporary with the castle. The first direct evidence for land-use close to the present castle site was from the Roman period, when the Roman Wall was constructed immediately adjacent to the south of the spur of raised land upon which the later castle now sat. Little was known about the history of the area of Thirlwall following the abandonment of the Roman Wall in the early 5th century until the establishment of feudal lordship in the medieval period. The castle was built in the mid 14th century to defend and protect the landholdings and interests of the Thirlwall family, who were known to have been resident in the area since at least the 13th century. It seemed to have been abandoned as a place of residence after the Civil War and eventually came into the hands of the Swinburne family through marriage to the surviving Thirlwall heiress and was subsequently sold to the Early of Carlisle as part of the Thirlwall estate, in 1748. The modern history of the site was one of slow structural decline. It was used as a shelter for stock until recent times, for which purpose various outbuildings were attached or built adjacent to the caste. In the wider vicinity, various industrial activities, including stone and mineral quarrying and lime burning, developed to support farming. Improved road transport to the site from the mid-18th century, and the arrival of the Newcastle-Carlisle Railway a century later, made the site more accessible to antiquaries and other visitors whose sketches, paintings and photographs survived in relative abundance from this period. [Au(abr)] |
Author: |
Alan Rushworth
Richard J Carlton
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Publisher: |
Archaeological Practice Ltd
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Year of Publication: |
2001
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Locations: |
Location - Auto Detected: |
Thirlwall Castle Northumberland |
Location - Auto Detected: |
Thirlwall Castle |
Location - Auto Detected: |
Thirlwall |
Location - Auto Detected: |
Northumberland |
Location - Auto Detected: |
Carlisle |
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Subjects / Periods: |
14th Century (Auto Detected Temporal) |
Early 5th Century (Auto Detected Temporal) |
Early (Auto Detected Temporal) |
14th (Auto Detected Temporal) |
Mid18th Century (Auto Detected Temporal) |
13th Century (Auto Detected Temporal) |
ROMAN
(Historic England Periods)
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MEDIEVAL
(Historic England Periods)
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1748 (Auto Detected Temporal) |
Mid 14th Century (Auto Detected Temporal) |
IRON AGE
(Historic England Periods)
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17th Centuries (Auto Detected Temporal) |
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Note: |
Date Of Issue From:
2001
Date Of Coverage From:
01
Date Of Coverage To:
01
Editorial Expansion:
Site name: THIRLWALL CASTLE Study area: Investigation type: Desk-based District: Tynedale Monument: CASTLE. Medieval (1066-1540) Ngr: NY65946615 Parish: Thirlwall Postcode: CA8 7HL
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Source: |
BIAB
(Archaeological Investigations Project (AIP))
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Created Date: |
18 Jan 2009 |