The Skaggs-Files

# Note: Title: Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists, 7th Edition, by Frederick Lewis Weis, additions by Walter Lee Shippard Jr., 1999
# Note: Page: 207-33
# Note: Title: Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 106th Edition, Charles Mosley Editor-in-Chief, 1999
# Note: Page: 14
# Note: Title: Magna Charta Sureties 1215, Frederick Lewis Weis, additions by Walter Lee Sheppard Jr, 5th Edition, 1999
# Note: Page: 45-6, 8-8

Warkworth Castle ~ Warkworth, Northumberland (EH)
http://www.heritage.me.uk/castles/warkworth.htm

Although the place of Warkworth is at least as old as the eighth century, the first castle built here was in the mid-twelfth century, a motte and bailey structure probably of wood. This original castle was built by Earl Henry of Northumberland who was the son of King David I of Scotland, who held the land at that time. The site was on high ground at one side of the peninsula of land formed by the curving River Coquet, with the village and river crossing protected by the castle.

By 1158 however, Northumberland was back in the hands of the English King Henry II and he gave the lands and castle to Roger FitzRichard, whose descendants retained it until the mid-fourteenth century. Roger set about building a stone castle immediately and the pressing need for a fully defensible home and garrison was proved as early as 1173, when Warkworth was easily captured by a Scottish raiding party. Work continued under Roger's son Robert and the castle grew, funded by the services to King John that Robert undertook. The village church also dates from the twelfth century and the interior retains the most complete Norman church in Northumberland, the stonework showing the influence of the great cathedral at Durham to the south. Robert completed the gatehouse and other parts of the castle and construction continued during the thirteenth century.

In 1292, Warkworth was considered grand and safe enough for the English King Edward I to visit and it was garrisoned with troops during the Anglo-Scottish wars. The financial upkeep was shared between the family, who had by then taken the name Clavering, and the King, who gained full control over the land and castle when the Claverings died out in 1332. In 1327, the castle had been besieged twice by the Scots and with its important strategic position, King Edward II in London granted it to the influential Percy family, to provide a full-time defence against the Scots. The Percys already held the nearby castle of Alnwick and the family, who became effective royalty in Northumberland, lived and built at both properties.

At Warkworth they built the Grey Mare's Tail Tower on the east side and altered the Carrickfergus Tower, the solar, or private lord's apartment and the chapel in the south-west corner. The Hermitage, along the river from the castle, also dates from the early fourteenth century. This secluded but not remote spot was home to a hermit, supported by the Percys, who spent his life in prayer and contemplation. The Chapel cut from the rock is the earliest part of the Hermitage and shows how much time and money must have been spent on its carving. Alongside the political and warlike life that the Percys led, they had a care for the spiritual side of life as the two chapels in the castle and the additional Hermitage shows. In later centuries the Hermitage was expanded and altered and the hermit's life gradually became more comfortable. In the 1530's, the resident hermit, George Lancastre, drew a salary of £13-6s-8d and acted as the sixth earl's Warkworth agent.

In the late fourteenth century, the magnificent keep was built by Henry Percy IV, a feature which still today dominates the castle and village around it. The keep was an entire castle within the existing castle, so that as well as proclaiming his power and prestige to the surrounding countryside and all visitors, the Earl could accommodate his most important visitors in a separate household from himself. Also dating from around this time is the fortified bridge over the river at the other end of the village. This Henry, who became the first Earl of Northumberland, set a pattern of rebellion against the English royalty which was to see the Percy estates, including Warkworth, pass to and from the Percy and Royal families (for details see Alnwick Castle). Further building was carried out by the family in the early fifteenth century, the second earl planning a collegiate church across the outer bailey which was however never finished and the fourth earl completing the Montague Tower, begun under the brief ownership of Warkworth by John Neville. The fifth earl didn't live much at Warkworth, although he did spend money on repairs, but the sixth earl frequently visited and repaired the Montague Tower and the gatehouse in the early sixteenth century. In order to propitiate the King, Henry VIII, the earl left all his Percy property to the Crown on his death in 1537.

The gradual and sad decline of Warkworth stemmed entirely from the Percy family's continued problems with the Crown. Following the Reformation, their lands were restored under the Catholic Queen Mary, but taken back by the Protestant Queen Elizabeth, whose servants carried off most of the castle's fittings and timber. The destruction was compounded by the soldiers of the Parliamentarian army who garrisoned the castle in 1648, despite the fact that the tenth earl was on the same side. In 1672, the eleventh earl's widow gave the remaining materials to one of the estate's auditors, John Clarke and great wagon-loads of lead and timber left the castle to the fate of the elements. The great keep, once the scene of feasting and grand entertainments and the seat of power for the Percy family, was left a deserted shell.

The Percy estates passed into the hands of the Smithsons by the late seventeenth century and they took the name of Percy and became Dukes of Northumberland. They repaired some of the crumbling stonework and in the 1850's the fourth duke carried out excavations and employed the architect Anthony Salvin with a view to restoring parts of the keep. Due to the high cost of this enterprise, the work was never completed, but the south projection and chambers over the buttery and pantry were roofed over and provided a picturesque picnic site for the family's excursions across from Alnwick. The gatehouse was repaired and made into a residence for the custodian, who showed visitors around. In 1922, the high cost of maintenance led to the castle being given to the Office of Works, now English Heritage who manage the site today.