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Castle Heaton Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Heaton near Coldstream; Heton; Old Heaton

In the civil parish of Cornhill on Tweed.
In the historic county of Durham; North.
Modern Authority of Northumberland.
1974 county of Northumberland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NT90114191
Latitude 55.67059° Longitude -2.15878°

Castle Heaton Castle has been described as a certain Masonry Castle, and also as a probable Bastle.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law*.

Description

Remains of a quadrangular castle founded in 1328-40 destroyed in 1496 and again in 1513 by King James IV. Out of use by 1559. The surviving remains consist of two buttresses set against the north east wall of the stable and the probable remains of a turret and rampart. The site is now covered by farm buildings. (PastScape)

Vaulted defensible building. Late medieval. Squared stone and random rubble, Welsh slate roof. c.70 ft. by 25 ft. 2 storeys. Long west side has stone steps to lst-floor doorway; some of the steps are worn, others renewed, but the wall beneath them is old. Under the steps a C16 or C17 doorway with alternating-block surround and rounded arrises. Left of the steps a projection c.8 ft. outside the line of the wall. This has a chamfered plinth and medieval masonry. It appears to be solid. Left of this a further section, still projecting but not so far, also has a chamfered plinth and a window with a steeply-sloping sill. The left section has a later window and an original slit window. On 1st floor C19 windows in old masonry. On east side two buttresses with offsets and 2 blocked slit windows. 1st floor is rebuilt on this side. Interior has a high round tunnel vault rising from c.3 ft. above ground. The walls are c. 3 ft. 6 inches thick normally and much thicker where there are projections. The south gable has been largely rebuilt. (Listed Building Report)

The Eton family (later Hetons) were tenants of the Bishop of Durham in this part of Norhamshire. They had a strong house on this site before the site was sold to Thomas Grey in 1328. Shortly afterwards, Grey knocked the house down and built a very strong, square complex including a keep and a great hold called the Lion's Tower, all contained within a wall with turrets at its four corners and a southern entrance. In 1398, a later Thomas Grey exchanged Heton with the Neville's Castle at Wark. Heton was sacked by King James IV in 1496 and again in 1513, leaving it a virtual ruin. When the Greys obtained legal ownership again in 1559, they had little incentive to repair the buildings, they being ruinous. (PastScape ref. Dodds, 1999)

'It was perhaps the work of Sir Thomas Gray... who succeeded his father in 1344.' (King, 2007, p. 389)
Links to mapping and other online resources
Data >
PastScape   County HER       Listing   I. O. E.
Maps >
OS getamap   Streetmap   Old-Maps   Where's the path      
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Sources of information, references and further reading

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I do not receive any income from this site and I fund it myself. The information within this site is provided freely by me for educational purposes only.
The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.
Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.
The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.
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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.
This record last updated on Friday, May 3, 2013
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