Bamburgh - Castle

Originally it was the site of a Celtic Briton stronghold called Din Guarie. In 547 the castle was recorded as having been captured by the Anglo-Saxon ruler Ida of Bernicia, the first known king of the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia. Ida´s grandson Æðelfriþ left the castle to his wife Bebba, from whom the early name Bebbanburgh is derived. The Vikings destroyed the original stronghold in 993.

The Normans built a new castle, which forms the core of the present castle. William II unsuccessfully besieged the castle in 1095 during a rebellion supported by Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumbria. After Robert de Mowbray's capture, his wife defended the castle until she was forced to surrender by the king's threat to blind her husband.

Bamburgh then became the property of the reigning monarch of England. As an important English outpost, the castle was occasionally the target of attacks by the Scots. In 1464, during the Wars of the Roses, Bamburgh Castle became the first English castle to be defended by artillery after a nine-month siege.

The Forster family, who had provided the castle's governors to the Crown for centuries, received the castle and owned it until 1700, when it was sold. The castle fell into disrepair and was restored by various owners in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was eventually bought by Victorian tycoon William Armstrong, who completed the restoration. The castle is still owned by the Armstrong family