Seaton Delaval Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Delavel; Dalawele; Seton Dallyvell; Turris de Seton de la uale

In the civil parish of Blyth Valley.
In the historic county of Northumberland.
Modern Authority of Northumberland.
1974 county of Northumberland.
Medieval County of Northumberland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NZ322765
Latitude 55.08213° Longitude -1.49633°

Seaton Delaval Castle has been described as a certain Pele Tower, and also as a probable Tower House.

There are no visible remains.

Description

A tower at Seaton Delaval is mentioned in 1415, though no license to crenellate is known. Additions were made to it in the 16th and 17th centuries and in 1549 its top was used for a beacon. It is recorded either as being annexed to a Tudor mansion which became the core of the following large Jacobean hall (built 1718-28) or as being demolished together with the Tudor house in 1720. The OS publication is therefore wrong both in description and siting. The only possible description on the evidence is 'Tower', and the site is probably that occupied by Seaton Delaval Hall - NZ 322 765 (F1 FDC 07-JAN-1954).
No remains of the tower are to be seen at Seaton Delaval Hall, which is now in ruins (F2 EG 07-APR-1954). (Northumberland HER)

Comments

Called a turris in the 1415 list but high up on a list that may be roughly graded by size and status. An Inventory of 1606, given in Craster, may suggest a tower with eight or more chambers but also suggests this may have been a solar tower attached to a hall (called the great dyninge chamber in the inventory). Knightly status and most probably a solar tower so a 'pele tower' in the terms used in Gatehouse rather than a baronial tower house although this does seem to have been a notably large tower since Leland called it a castle.
The National Trust owned Vanburgh designed hall of 1719-30 (Grade 1 listed) occupies the probably site and, understandably, dominates the architectural history of the site.

Sources of information, references and further reading

County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N11954.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- North of the Tyne
  National Trust
Books
- Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 484
  Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 94
  Jackson, M.J.,1992, Castles of Northumbria (Carlisle) p. 107
  Rowland, T.H., 1987 (reprint1994), Medieval Castles, Towers, Peles and Bastles of Northumberland (Sandhill Press) p. 77
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 353
  Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p. 312
  Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 154
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Craster, H.H.E. (ed), 1909, Northumberland County History (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Vol. 9 p. 177-80 online copy
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England; their story and structure (New York: Macmillan) Vol. 2 p. 419-20 online copy
  Tomlinson, W.W., 1897, Comprehensive Guide to Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 60-1
  Bates, C.J., 1891, Border Holds of Northumberland (London and Newcastle: Andrew Reid) p. 16, 27 (Also published as the whole of volume 14 (series 2) of Archaeologia Aeliana view online)
  Hodgson, J. and Laird, F., 1813, Beauties of England and Wales; Northumberland Vol. 12 p. 91
Periodical Articles
- Bates, C.J., 1891, 'Border Holds of Northumberland' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser2) Vol. 14 p. 16, 27 online copy
  Adamson, E.H., 1887, 'An attempt to trace the Delavals from the time of the Norman Conquest to the present day' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser2) Vol. 12 p. 223 online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- 1415, Nomina Castrorum et Fortaliciorum infra Comitatum Northumbrie online transcription
  1888, The Manuscripts of his grace the Duke of Rutland (Historic Manuscripts Commission 24) Vol. 1 p. 37 (1549 beacon)
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 342
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 5 p. 63 online copy

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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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