A Wander Around Dunstanburgh Castle

Dunstanburgh Castle

Dunstanburgh Castle is one of my favourite places to visit and if you've ever been you'll understand why. It's the embodiment of the romantic ruin, a time capsule from the 14th century unspoilt by modern development, left in splendid isolation for time and weather to take their toll while it maintains a lonely vigil by the sea.

The area is prone to flooding in wet weather

In fact, 'isolation' is a key word when it comes to Dunstanburgh, as historians have long puzzled over it's location. Castles are usually built to exercise power and influence over an important location- a town or market, a strategic road, river crossing or port- yet Dunstanburgh appears to have none of these. To try to answer this question we need to look at the man who built it, Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, cousin and political opponent to King Edward II. Thomas and the King did not always see eye to eye (to put it mildly) and disagreements between powerful men always had the potential to turn nasty in those days so, to my mind anyway, Dunstanburgh Castle is Thomas's get-out-of-jail card (or keep-out-of-jail card more like), a refuge or bolt-hole built as far away from the King's reach as possible while still being on his own land. In this scenario, the castle's isolation would have worked in it's favour, allowing the Earl to remain out of sight and out of mind until things calmed down. Whatever his reasoning, it didn't do Thomas much good; when the moment of crisis came (the guidebook tells us of a conference between him and his followers- 'by common consent, they should all go to the castle of Dunstanburgh, which pertained to the earldom of Lancaster, and abide there till the king had forgiven him'), he was unable to reach his new fortress and was captured and beheaded.

The mighty gatehouse

The sense of remoteness is one of the first things that strikes you when you first catch sight of it outlined on the horizon. It's possible to approach the castle from two different directions, via the neighbouring villages of Craster (from the south) or Embleton (north), but either way you'll need your walking shoes as there's no road within a mile of the castle. I favour the approach from Craster as it has the spectacular view seen above, but if you're visiting with children you may find Embleton better as the walk has a sandy beach as a distraction (for the non-castle geek) rather than the grassy-rocky shore that the Craster path features.

Weather-worn stonework

Entrance to the Castle is afforded by it's outstanding feature, the giant gatehouse cum keep, twin-towered with an arched passageway in between. The two drum-towers are three storeys high, topped with turrets that extended another two storeys, though little now remains. In the photo above, you can just see the remains of one turret at the very top of the left hand tower. Though scarred and battle-weary, it remains a magnificent, awe-inspiring sight. Get close to the structure and you'll see strange patterns in the individual stones caused by erosion from centuries of wind and rain, the result being a visual and tactile experience to rival any modern artist's work. Despite the ruinsome condition of the gatehouse it's possible to climb right to the top of the right-hand tower, and it's well worth the exertion as the views are quite spectacular, an 'on-top-of-the-world' feeling to contrast with the gloomy, claustrophobic nature of the interior.

View from the Gatehouse

The top of the gatehouse is a good place to survey the rest of the site. It's often described as the largest castle in Northumberland but it soon becomes clear that this is a bit of a cheat. It's the largest in terms of the area enclosed by the walls but this has much to do with the castle's siting on a promontory, the interior actually being fairly sparse and deliberately kept overgrown and grassy to serve as a habitat for wildlife.



The south-facing curtain wall adjoining the gatehouse is by far the thickest and best quailty of any point in the castle perimeter and this is no coincidence, as it's the most likely direction of attack. To the north and east the castle is protected by cliffs and the sea, while the west is protected by a steep slope.

Curtain Wall and Towers

Following the wall down to the sea leads to the Constable's Tower where the castle commander would have resided. In the absence of Thomas of Lancaster or his successor-owners, this was the most important figure here, charged with looking after the castle and it's surrounding environs.

The Egyncleugh Tower

Further still, the curtain wall terminates in the Egyncleugh ('eagle's ravine') Tower, precariously perched right on the cliff edge, preventing any enemy from outflanking the strong defences. The ravine below the tower is known as Queen Margaret's Cove, after Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry VI and Lancastrian figurehead in The Wars of The Roses, supposedly landed here in in 1462. In reality, she landed further up the coast at Bamburgh but such legends have a tendency to stick. The Egyncleugh Tower once contained it's own gateway and drawbridge, allowing the occupants to come and go without requiring access to the gatehouse. Presumably this was to speed up the day-to-day activities (tradesman's entrance?) and keep the locals away from the Lord's lodgings if he happened to be in residence.

From this point, away from the likely direction of attack, the quality of the curtain wall deteriorates sharply, both in height and thickness.  The guidebook informs us that the wall was heightened at some point, presumably because the builders feared a naval landing (Wars of The Roses again?). This conjures up fanciful images of a medieval equivalent of the opening scenes from Saving Private Ryan but perhaps I'm getting a bit carried away here.

The Northern Perimeter and Gull Crag

At the far end of this (east) wall is another gateway, allowing access to the rocky headland beyond. The guidebook speculates that this may have been to allow the castle to be evacuated or re-supplied by sea in the event of a siege, though how practical this would have been in rough sea I'm not so sure.

As you reach the northern edge of the promontory the wall disappears completely, with no foundations visible and it's unclear if there was ever a wall or palisade here at all. If there was it clearly wasn't a significant work and it's not too suprising as the entire northern perimeter is protected by a 30 meter cliff known as Gull Crag and, below that, the sea.

The wall reappears at the western edge of the cliff, though much of the stone has been pilfered for reuse elsewhere. This side of the castle is dominated by The Lilburn Tower, named for one John de Lilburn, constable of Dunstanburgh in 1322. The view from here across Embleton bay is fantastic, and on a clear day Bamburgh Castle, some 10 miles north, can also be seen.

The Lilburn Tower

The fact that The Lilburn Tower is sited in this prime viewing location may be an indication as to it's primary function, as a watchtower over the northern approaches to the castle. It's also possible that it's there to perform exactly the opposite role, that is, not to see but to be seen. For just as Bamburgh Castle, a royal stronghold representing the power and authority of the King, can be seen from here, so the occupants of that fortress would be able to look across to the Lilburn Tower and be reminded that power and authority are not unchallengeable.


After you leave the tower, the next notable section of this stretch of wall is known as 'John of Gaunt's Gatehouse' and to explain this we need to take another trip into the castle's history.

After Thomas of Lancaster's execution in 1322, Dunstanburgh came into the hands of the king, who decided it could be a useful bulwark against potential Scottish aggression and therefore worth looking after. Had he known about the castle's remote location, away from any major road and therefore unlikely to be much of an obstacle to an invasion from north of the border, he may have reached a different judgement. That said, given Edward II's history with the Scots (he was present at Bannockburn in 1314, perhaps the worst military defeat in medieval English history), he may have felt he needed all the help he could get.

Bamburgh Castle on the horizon, seen from the Lilburn Tower

Dunstanburgh later came into the hands of Earl Thomas's younger brother Henry and eventually, in 1362, passed to one of the most famous Lancastrians, John of Gaunt, Duke (rather than Earl) of Lancaster and son of Edward III. Though not as famous as his elder brother, Edward the Black Prince, Gaunt wielded enormous wealth and power. The son of a king and the uncle of a king, he posthumously became the father of a king when his son Henry Bolingbroke usurped the throne as Henry IV, founding the dynasty of Lancastrian kings that would end in The Wars of The Roses, during which Dunstanburgh Castle would see it's only large-scale fighting.

The rear of the Gatehouse/Keep

John of Gaunt came to Northumberland in 1380 as part of his new post as lieutenant in the Scottish marches. This meant he was responsible for border security, of which castles played a huge part. He must have been unimpressed by Dunstanburgh as he ordered changes to be made, the main one of which saw Thomas of Lancaster's great gatehouse converted to a keep by walling up the entrance. He also had new inner walls built, effectively sealing off the new keep from the rest of the castle, and built a new entrypoint, protected by a barbican. It is the remains of this last mentioned work which we encountered above, bearing the name of John of Gaunt.

Inside the Gatehouse

Speaking of Dunstanburgh's inadequacies, the guidebook tells an interesting tale of how, during the peasant's revolt of 1381 Gaunt, a major figure in the government of the country and hence likely to meet with anger and violence from the rebels, preferred to leave his own castle as he feared it was not strong enough and sought refuge in Alnwick Castle instead. Personally, I find this hard to take at face value, since Dunstanburgh's remoteness would surely have played to it's advantage on this occasion. Did Gaunt really fear that large numbers of rebels, poorly armed, untrained and disorganised, would have travelled several miles without artillery or siege equipment and then successfully assault this castle? Perhaps my affection for Dunstanburgh is showing here, or maybe John of Gaunt was a particularly paranoid individual, but I think it more likely that Gaunt would have gone to Alnwick in order to place himself in a more influential location from which to control events, rather than hunkering down by the sea.

The Lilburn Tower in April 2011

Continuing the tour, as you pass by the 'new' gatehouse you once again encounter the hulking structure of the 'old' gatehouse and realise you have come full circle, literally and figuratively. But the wander doesn't stop there, as I always make a point of walking past the castle in the direction of Embleton. Just as Craster affords the best view of the gatehouse, Embleton offers the ground level views of the Lilburn tower, which have become a favourite of photographers and painters. The view varies depending on the weather as the ground below the tower floods easily. Indeed, the most recent archaeological surveys suggest these 'meres' were intended to be part of the castle's original defences and were far more extensive than originally thought, stretching right round and almost connecting with the sea on both sides. This would have created the illusion that the castle was in fact an island, which some commentators have suggested was part of Thomas of Lancaster's original vision of the castle, seeing it as a second Avalon with (of course) himself as King Arthur. There's certainly an ethereal quality, an other-worldliness, about seeing The Lilburn Tower reflected in the surface of the mere below so it's not hard to see why this theory hasn't been dismissed.

Avalon?

Whatever the truth about the once and future king, neither he nor Earl Thomas were able to help Dunstanburgh when war finally came to the castle, in 1461 during the Wars of The Roses as mentioned earlier. Following the Yorkist victory at the great battle of Towton, Dunstanburgh, along with it's fellow Northumbrian strongholds at Alnwick and Bamburgh, became one of the few places still held for the defeated Lancastrians. King Henry VI and Queen Margaret had fled to Scotland and there remained the possibility that, once regrouped, they could launch an invasion from north of the border, using the northumbrian castles as a rallying point and launchpad. To prevent this, the Yorkist leaders resolved to take the fortresses while launching a charm offensive on the Scots in order to diplomatically isolate the Lancastrians.

Viewed from Embleton

What followed was almost a microcosm of The Wars of The Roses as Dunstanburgh was taken, lost, taken again, and lost again before finally being captured for good in 1464. These sieges were conducted more through blockade and starvation than through direct assault and Dunstanburgh at least avoided the ignominy of becoming the first castle in England to succumb to cannon fire (that particular distinction fell to Bamburgh not long after). The main figure in the sieges was Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, better known as 'Warwick The Kingmaker' and there's a small  irony in the fact that Dunstanburgh, which owed it's creation and rise to great Lancastrians, should fall to a great Yorkist. That's if you can call Warwick a Yorkist, but that's an argument for another day.

Dunstanburgh never really recovered from it's mauling during The Wars of The Roses. It's walls were not mended and it's buildings fell into neglect and disrepair until restoration work in the 19th and 20th centuries left us with the glorious ruin we see today. I for one would not have it any other way.

Viewed from Craster harbour

Visiting the Castle

Dunstanburgh Castle lies on the Northumberland coast, roughly 40 miles north of Newcastle. Parking (not free) is available in Craster, just over a mile from the castle. Bamburgh, Alnwick and Warkworth Castles are all within a 12 mile radius of Dunstanburgh. The Castle is open at weekends only from November to March, and all week from April to October. Admission is free to members of both English Heritage and the National Trust.