Spofforth Castle and Half a Ghost

A-Z Challenge 2012 - S

Spofforth Castle

The Percy family have been an influential family in northern England since the days of the Norman Conquest, William de Percy, a favourite of William the Conqueror, built the manor house at Spofforth in what is now North Yorkshire. In 1215 Richard de Percy and insurgent Barons are reputed to have drawn up the Magna Carta there.

In 1224 Henry II granted a licence to a later William de Percy to hold a Friday market in the town. It was in 1308 that Edward II gave Henry de Percy a licence to fortify the manor house.

Spofforth Castle sits on a small rocky outcrop overlooking the town. Only the west range, which contained the principle apartments, still stands; earthworks and low walls are all that are left of the north south and east ranges.

Spofforth Castle - 2009

In 1403 Harry Hotspur (immortalised by Shakespeare), Baron of Spofforth and born at the castle, was killed at the Battle of Shrewsbury.

During the Wars of the Roses the Percys supported the House of Lancaster. After the Battle of Townton in 1461 the Yorkists burnt the castle and plundered the local countryside. The castle lay in ruins for nearly a hundred years before it was restored by Henry, Lord Percy. By this time it was Alnwick Castle that had become the Percys seat. [A for Alnwick in A-Z Challenge 2011 here]

Spofforth Castle - 2011

The last occupant of the castle was a steward who died in 1604. Spofforth Castle was finally reduced to a ruin during the Civil War.

But what of Spofforth’s ghost?

A bluish-white female appears for a moment on the top of the tower before plunging to the ground. The spectre is made even more gruesome by only the upper half of her body being visible. Who she was and why she killed herself has never been ascertained; she disappears at the moment of impact with the ground.

I toyed with the idea of using Scotney Castle in Kent for the letter S; instead you may check it out  here

Hilary Melton-Butcher’s castle for R  yesterday Raby Castle, County Durham

Attributions

• Spofforth Castle 2009; author TJ Blackwell; Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 unported license
• Spofforth Castle 2011; author Immanuel Giel; Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 unported license.
• Video by Justin Chapman 2011

Alnwick

The River Aln skirts the northern side of the town of Alnwick in Northumberland, The remains of Alnwick Abbey with its well preserved 14^th century gatehouse is situated within Hulne Park on the river’s bank.

In the town the church of St Michael has Saxon origins but was rebuilt in the 14^th and 15^th centuries; the church has a battlemented tower with some of the finest 15^th century workmanship in the country. In addition to fine monuments inside, the church houses a carved 14^th century Flemish chest.

 But it is the castle that has dominated the life and times of Alnwick. The first parts of Alnwick Castle were erected in c1096 by Yves de Vescy, Baron of Alnwick. Its purpose was to protect England’s northern border against the Scots and the border reivers. In 1309 the castle was bought by Henry de Percy, 1^st Baron Percy. It has been owned by the Percy family, the Earls and the later Dukes of Northumberland ever since.

The eldest son of the 1^st Earl of Northumberland was also called Harry Hotspur. The nickname, Hotspur’ is suggestive of his impulsive behaviour. Sir Henry Percy, or Harry Hotspur, acquired a great reputation as a warrior fighting against the Scots and the French in the late 1300s. He helped depose Richard II in favour of Henry of Bolingbroke, who later became King Henry IV.

He led a rebellion against Henry in 1403; but before he could join forces with the Welsh rebel, Owain Glyndŵr, Hotspur was defeated and killed at the Battle of Shrewsbury. His body was displayed at Shrewsbury, impaled on a spear before being quartered and sent around England, his head exhibited on a pole at the gates of York.

Hotspur has famous lines in Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I in which he is killed by Prince Hal (the future Henry V) – immediately after being stabbed he says, “O Harry, thou has robb’d me of my youth!” A later line is cut off in mid sentence by his death, “O Percy, thou art dust and food for -” and finished by Prince Hal: “For worms, brave Percy.”

In August 2010 a bronze statue of Harry was unveiled in the town of Alnwick. The statue commemorated the 700 year anniversary (in 2009) of the Percy family in Alnwick. There is an earlier statue of Harry Hotspur inside the courtyard of Alnwick Castle. 

 Since WWII parts of the castle have been used first as a High School for Girls, then as a teacher training college and since 1981 as a branch campus by the American St Cloud State University.

The Postern Tower houses an exhibition featuring the family’s interest in archaeology with frescoes from Pompeii and relics from Ancient Egypt. The Constable Tower contains military displays and the Abbot’s Tower the Regimental Museum of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers.

Today the castle is the second largest inhabited castle in England. Only Windsor is larger. Much of the castle is open to the public. There has been increased public interest after it was used in shots for the exterior and interior of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films and for the famous quidditch sequences.

The present Duchess of Northumberland has initiated the establishment of The Alnwick Garden, a formal garden set round a cascading fountain. 

The large ‘tree house’ complex includes a café; the poison garden grows plants such as cannabis and the opium poppy. The pavilion and visitor centre can hold up to 1000 people.

 In the town is the prominent Tenantry Column topped by the Percy Lion, the symbol of the Percy Family. The column was erected in 1816 by the tenants to the second Duke of Northumberland after he had reduced their rents in an agricultural depression.

[This was an A-Z post, April 2011 - A]