Hi everybody it's Margaret here
from Free Tours By Foot and today I'm coming to you from
beautiful Northumberland in the North of England where today
we're going to be exploring the fabulous Walkworth Castle.
We've got about 900 years of history inside so we better get
started. The origins of Warwick Castle are uncertain.
Historians and archaeologists aren't exactly sure when the
first structure was built here. But what we do know is that
originally it was built out of wood not the stone that we're
going to be seeing today. And the first record of a fortress
on this site comes from the 12th century and it's in an
important strategic location. As I mentioned, we are in
Northumberland in the North of England right on the edge of
the border with Scotland. So, it's very important for the
English King to keep the North of the country fortified in
preparation for Scottish invaders. In fact, Walkworth
Castle was siege twice by the Scottish Army in 1327
Throughout its history the castle has mostly been in the
hands of the prominent Percy family. The Percys were a
preeminent noble family in the medieval period and it's Henry
the second Barren Percy who first received this castle in
1345 And throughout the centuries it's mostly been in
the hand of the Percy family but I will mention that the
Percys have a little habit of rebelling against the current
king. So occasionally the would be taken off them. Uh
controlled by the crown before eventually somebody made amends
or somebody was forgiven and it would come back into their
hands. In fact today it is still owned by a member of the
Percy family. Now if I have any Shakespeare fans watching if
you think back to the Henry the fourth play. Henry the fourth
parts 1 and two. there are scenes that take place in
Walkworth Castle featuring the fourth Baron Percy who was
named the Earl of Northumberland and his son
Henry Hotspur. In fact there's a scene that takes place right
here at this gatehouse. Now this gatehouse has had a little
bit of work done to it in the 1800s. there was quite a bit of
repair work done in the Victorian era to the castle but
that doesn't mean we're not going to see a lot of original
stonework because we absolutely will. So originally there would
have been more aeroslits at the top because this was one of the
most important parts of the castle of course. This needed
to be heavily defended as this was the main entrance.
Originally this would have been a draw bridge but you can see
today, we're going to walk right over it and we can see
down below where there would have been a moat to fortify the
entrance. You'll see here the arrow slits where archers would
be able to fire out more along here. And you can also see down
there on that tower as well. Um and they feature in design.
What some people refer to as a fishtail. Can you see how it
gets bigger at the bottom? And that means the archers could
aim downwards. If you had somebody who was coming in from
the moat you'd still be able to get a nice and accurate shot.
The gate that we see here today is not what the gate would have
looked like in its original day. It would have had a huge
port callus too in fact and we can see where the pork callus
would have come down. You can see all the way to the top
there. So there would have been one pork callus on this side.
And another up here. So, when you came inside, they dropped
the gate behind you. There'd be one down in front of you and
you'd be trapped right in the middle and very handy. You've
got some nice arrow slits in here as well in case they
decided they didn't like what you'd come here to say. Here we come. Stand the front.
Isn't this beautiful. I'm going to give you the full view
around here. See the sun's behind the walls.
There's a little dark. There's the gate house we just came in.
There's where you buy your tickets in the gift shop run by
the very friendly people from English Heritage. And there you
have it. Now this castle is built in what we call the mot
and Bailey style. And to just make it simple a mot and Bailey
style castle is a mound with a keep or strong hold on the top
and a curtain wall around it. This is a typical medieval
style castle that you see a lot of in England. My camera's a
little off center. There we go you guys. So is a classic
design but what makes Walkworth Castle a little bit different
is that the keep was designed with comfort in mind normally
castle keeps were part of the fortification and yes the duke
where the Earl might spend time inside however it wasn't
necessarily built as a home but this keep was which makes it
very unique amongst castles in England. In fact even from this
view you can see a bit of the detailing on the windows. Just
these little extra touches that show it as a place of residence
rather than just a military stronghold. Now today this area
is relatively quiet but in its hay day in the 1314 1500s this
castle would have been absolutely bustling. In
addition to the Percy family and all of their staff and
servants you could have any other number of people here in
this courtyard and there were a few different buildings to
cater to this. So over here would have been a great hall
which we're going to explore shortly. Kitchens to the right
and an unfinished chapel which would have been over here. And
in addition in this area we would have had extra lodgings
and stables for everybody's form of transport sort of like
the garages of being 14 or 1500s. And when I say that this
could have been full of people. I'm talking about perhaps
merchants, blacksmiths, traders, people making bows and
arrows. You could have butchers as well. Uh you'd also
potentially have visiting armies. If the army was
traveling through the country and needed a safe place to rest
we're better than inside the castle walls. So at any time
you could have hundreds of people staying here and if you
were lucky you might be blessed with a visit from the king or
queen themselves and of course the king or queen would travel
with dozens if not hundreds of servants and all of them would
need to be accommodated here. So there would have been
numerous temporary wooden structures built along out in
this area as well. So it would have been a real hub. Now I
mentioned to you that there were previously buildings over
here. So over here would have been a chapel. On record we
still have it as an unfinished chapel and most of it was taken
down by the 16th century, Which isn't unusual actually because
the Percy family themselves had their own chapel which I'm
going to show you later. So it's important to recognize
that what I'm showing you now a chapel, a hall, and a kitchen
that was for everybody out here. But there's multiple
kitchens a hall and a chapel inside there as well. So
speaking of the great hall, we'll come over here and get a
look. Here's a beautiful tower entrance. You can even see some
of the detail left around the window ledge there. All the way
up into the sky. Come through here. These beautiful arched
doorways and you can see there would have been many floors
above us. As you can see by the windows in the tower. Hear the entrance. To that
chapel. And over here the seller. And again you can see doorways
up there. So there would have been two if not three stories
here. Shall we see what's through the archway? A dead end today. And what would have been a wall
here would separate the cellar from the great hall. There
would have been two entrances to the great hall here. One
would have been for the Percy family themselves who would
have come down from the keep and the other would have been
for everybody else who would have come in through that
archway right there. In fact this hall that we're standing
in could even be divided into two so that the Percy's and
their honoured guests could spend time in here and wouldn't
have to see everybody else who'd come inside to have their
meals as well. And if you can imagine at that
time you know the walls would have been draped in tapestries.
The ground would have been covered in reeds and rushes.
There would have been music playing. And in this room here
the buttery which despite the name is actually where the
drinks were kept. Uh in medieval England the glasses or
the containers that held wine and often beer were known as
butts. So the buttery was not necessarily anything to do with
dairy as you and I would say it today but in fact to do with
drink. And this section here, the pantry. And from here we
can see the length of the hole. So, I mentioned to you that
everybody else would come in through a different entrance
and this is where they would come in. This is the Lion Tower
and the Lion Tower is quite cool because you can see the
remains of a spiral staircase right there. And I will show you why it's
called the Lion Tower in just a moment so I know. As we come through here, get a
good look at that vaulted ceiling. Absolutely lovely. And as we come out, we'll turn
around and we will see the Percy Lion.
The symbol of the Percy family. Now when it was built this lion
and the crests and coat of arms above would have been
decorated. So it would be brightly coloured with paint or
maybe even gilding and gold. And there's an identical lion
on the north side of the keep which we can't see from here
but would be overlooking the village on the other side. See
if we can get a good look of him up here. I'll zoom in for
you. He's seen better days. A very old lion indeed. So there would have been the
hall. And here a kitchen. Come through. And you can see medieval drainage here. So all
the slot from the kitchens would have come out there. Out
into the moat below. Okay, bear with me here. Image
system. All the kitchen slot going down into the moat.
Surrounding the castle. Looking for the easiest way
out. Here we go. Because now we're going to head to that
fabulous keep. Smaller later added entrance to
the castle. And again the remains. Of what would have
been a staircase. And you'll notice the entrance
to the keep is not on ground level. There's stairs and the
stairs were here again as a little bit of security because
if for example, the castle was under siege and the Percy
family were hiding inside, they could dismantle the staircase
or knock it down just to make it a little bit more difficult
to breach the keep. Now it's a bit dark inside. We
do have some sun so I'm hoping it'll look alright on the
camera for you. A view of where we've just come
from. There's the gatehouse. We enter. That's right. As we come in,
I'm taking you straight through here just so you can get a
view. Um just out onto the coast there. Let's see if I can
there we go. Focus for you. We're looking out to the edge
of the North Sea. So, as you enter, through the doors here. This
would have been a waiting area. And the main entrance was
through here and I'm going to take you straight up the main
steps. So we'll come back down and explore down here later. Beautiful views out the windows
here. And we come out now into the
great hall. Now, we're lucky in that most
of the keep here at Walkworth Castle is intact. Not a lot of
castles are as complete as this and I know it seems strange to
be saying that when there's no roof on the top but it's worth
mentioning that most medieval castle roofs were built out of
wood which means it would be incredibly rare for one to
survive but you can see where it would have been based on the
ledges at the top there would have been a few different
stories to the great hall. A number of different levels. So
down here is where everybody would dine. You'd have again
tapestries on the walls, rushes and reeds on the ground. Those
rooms through there is where all the goods were brought in
which I will show you in a minute. And here would have
been the fireplace. Now before the 14th century fires in the
great hall actually stood just right in the middle of the
floor and there was a hole in the roof for the smoke to come
out but by the time this hall was built they began putting
them into the walls with chimneys at the top. Now if you
look up here we can see there's a couple openings. So up there
would have been a ledge and that's where the musicians
would have been to play music for the Perses and their
guests. So they'd be up there and the party would be
happening down here. Get a nice view around. So we
will be back here momentarily. They have it set up so you just
walk one way through the castle. So, I'm going to follow
the rules but my favorite part of the castle, isn't that
beautiful? View of the village. My favorite part of the castle
is this. If you're ever looking for me, that's where you'll
find me. So, these stairs go down to the wine cellar and I'm
going to show you where they come out a little bit later on
in the tour. So, the idea was that there was direct access to
the wine cellar so that the wine could be brought in for a
party. Now off at the great hall. The chapel. And you can see here beautiful
detailing on the windows that we'll get closer to. So this
would have been the chapel for the Percy family. But they also
would have let distinguished guests worship here as well.
And you can see there would have been two different floors.
If you see these little ledges that stick out those would have
been the foundations for the next level and there a doorway.
And that doorway have been for the Percy family because they
would have worshiped up at the top there in a private chapel
which had its own fireplace that you can see halfway up the
wall and then their distinguished guests would
worship down here where we're standing and you can see up
here would have been the altar and my gimbal's a little off
center. Give me one second. Especially as the ambulance is
going past. I'll wait till you can hear me. There we go. We come up here.
You can see the detailing in that window. Beautiful and then these
sconces here is one on either side. You can just about make
out their angels. I think this one's a little bit easier to
see there. You see the face and the wings on either side. Isn't
that lovely that it survived some 700 years And here built
into the wall a font. And then this little room here is where
the priest would have kept their vestments. And today it
overlooks that staircase going down to the wine cellar. But
this would have been for use by the priest. Here you get a good
view of the river out to the coast. We'll come down here. And relieve the chapel And we come into the private rooms. So this was
a bit like a sitting room for the Percy family or living room
depending on which country you're from and what you like
to call it. So this was a relatively speaking intimate
space. This is where you would have had the finest
furnishings. It's where the family would have spent time
together and also where they would have welcomed their most
distinguished of guests. And just as with the chapel you can
see there were two floors here. And you can see where the roof
of this floor and the floor of the room above would have been
as we come around. Again multiple fireplaces. One
there. And the main one here. So yes these were the family
rooms. And there's a small anti-chamber off to the side
that I will show you. She comes here. So an even
smaller more intimate chamber. You can see again two floors. And I've got a treat for you
all. As we come through here. If you watched my tower video
you'll know that I've always gotta point out the loo. Now
it's a bit dark but you can just about make it out. So yes
this was called the garter robe. Uh and you'll find garter
robes which you and I today would call a bathroom or a
toilet in most medieval castles. Lots of them are still
standing. And they would have of course basically just been
built over a hole in the ground. No indoor plumbing in
the medieval era. I'm afraid. Straight into the mo is
charming but the name gartero was actually quite interesting
and it used to be believed that the foul odors of a toilet
would help repel disease and pests so people would often
hang their robes or their clothes in the toilet with the
hope that they wouldn't attract any nasty bugs. I don't think I'll take their
word on that one. Here you can see off into the
Northumbrian countryside. Beautiful views today. So we come back through. This
is the family chamber that we talked about and saw. And now
we continue back into the great hall. So there's that entrance to the
wine cellar on the right. There would have been a raised dias
on that side there which is where the Percys themselves
would have sat to overlook everybody. And here are the
three entries required. And rooms you need to have a
successful feast. Through here we have two kitchens. This is
the first one. This is refer to as the small kitchen. Which
makes me feel a little bit bad about my personal residence.
And we can see there would have been one fireplace here.
Luckily a smaller fire kept here in a Brazil. And to the
left of it a bread oven. Let's see. Oh yeah the lighting's
alright. You can see it. So hot ash from the fire would have
been put in here with the bread. And then on the other
side this is where water would have been kept. You can see
it's stone at the bottom. So the water and the wood and the
logs for all of the fires that would be here would have had to
be brought up by servants. And the water would have been kept
hot. In there. And another bit of drainage. Out to the outside
of the building. And then the second great kitchen through
here. So we see this one is much much larger. Two huge open
fires big enough that they would be roasting entire
animals which is sounds a bit grim to say but if you're
feeding dozens and dozens of people you need a lot a lot of
food and roasted meat was always on the table and this is
where it would have been cooked and you can see an even bigger
drainage here for all the what they keep call slop. Here at
the castle to go down and out of the building. See all around here. So you can just imagine there
would have been dozens of people in this space. Huge
fires absolutely roaring. Entire lamb. Entire cows being
cooked here over the spits. Bread baking in the oven. Water
boiling over there. Slop on the floors. It would have been
absolute chaos. But this really was the hub. Of the castle. And lots of little antique
chambers to look at likely used for goods storage. Because of
course you need tableware, glasses, and plates and knives
and trunchons. The whole kit. And adjacent to the kitchen. We
come in here. The buttery and the pantry. Nice and cold in
here. And remember I mentioned butts were the names of the
bottles that held the alcohol the wine and the beer and they
weren't necessarily made out of glass some of them were made
out of wood or even leather. They all would have been kept
in here. You can see we do have a wooden ceiling here although
it's not original. You might be able to hear people walking
around above. I hope it's people. You never know when you
might come across a ghost in a medieval castle. And here the
stairs down to the beer cellar where we will be going shortly
of course and you can see two doors here and this would have
been for servants to come in one and out the other. So, it
was a one-way system which a lot of us are quite used to
after the events of twenty 20. So one last look at that great
hall. The center of the upper building and all the
residential buildings or the residential rooms excuse me
would have been up on the second floor. So the chambers
of the Percy family which are gone. I promised you we'd go
down to the beer cellar and that is how we will get down to
ground level. Look at these stairs here. Let's see if I can
make it without terrible injury. This castle is cleverly built.
There's many different stairways and staircases all
built again for ease of access not necessarily strictly for
defense. We come down here into the beer cellar. So again, the
beer here could be taken directly up those stairs right
into the kitchens into the great hall for the feast. Now, just through here, the
sunshine isn't really on our side but when the sun is
shining, you can see the sunlight coming through that
window and it also exists on two more sides here you can see
because of course being down somewhere like this in the
basement would be incredibly dark lit only by candle light
but having a somewhat open tower that ran right through
the center of the building meant that natural light could
come down here to the lower levels Again another thought
for the people who would be staying here. Now these rooms
here make up the wine cellar. You can see. Nice and cold.
Although some people did prefer to drink their red wine warmed.
And in some castles sadly not this one. But I'll find one to
show you guys. At some castles there's even little windows cut
into the fireplaces where the bottles of wine would be set to
warm up before they were poured. Just something I'm
definitely going to install in my own house. And remember back at the
beginning there were the stairs down to the wine cellar. And
here they are. So this would take us right back up to the
great hall. And through here we have one of the pages rooms.
Now Pages were sort of knights in training. Uh assistant to
current knights. Uh if you were landed gentry like the Percy
family. Perhaps you might want one of your children to go on
to become a knight. And to train they would need to
apprentice with the knights who were already fighting soldiers.
So you might send your son to another Earl or a Duke's house
where they could be in the employee of the Knights based
there and this is how they would learn if anybody happened
to see the sword in the Stone the Disney animated film of
course Arthur there is a young page And through here the guard
room. And the remains of a font. You can see it's quite imposing
all this stonework. We've got more stairs here to
the side. And around. Yet another garter
robe. Now, down here, look at that.
This isn't I will say a medieval door that we're
looking at. It is relatively recent but this was the door to
the dungeon which was exactly as dark and miserable and scary
as you might imagine right underneath the stone
foundations of the castle. A terrible place to be imprisoned
but People were kept here on the orders of the king. The
Percy family were quite powerful in the North of
England and they could be trusted most of the time to do
the king's bidding. So again, the entrance hall the
rooms off that we've just explored. The great hall up
those stairs and the missing roof and the top story the
chambers of the Percy family. And we come back out. Oh, it
started to rain but that's alright because we're almost
done with our visit. Pop my hood on. Again. Another view here. And we will come down and we can see down here remains of all the smaller
buildings where work could be done. Remember I mentioned
you'd have blacksmiths and arrow makers. They would have
workshops down here. And there's also an entrance to a tower which
I'm not sure if it's open to us. Let's investigate. This
tower is called the gray mare's tail tower. You can still roughly speaking
walk through the buildings that would have stood here. You can
again see where the second floor would have been. In the
case of the grey mare's tail tower. Even the floor on top of
that. Oh and look at this view of the keep from here. Oh and
for reference that flag you see at the top that is the flag of
English heritage and English heritage is a charity it's
responsible for looking after 400 more than 400 evenuh
important historical sites in England this just happens to be
one they do amazing work keeping these buildings open to
the public and no I don't work for them just to be clear Now, this part of the building,
these bricks here, this is one of the oldest parts of the
castle. These brick do come from the 12th century. I said
these brick, these stones, excuse me, come from the 12th
century. Um whereas most of the other curtain wall that we're
looking at come from the 1300s. And we have another postern
gate here. To the side. So this gate wouldn't necessarily have been used, most people
would have had to come through the gatehouse and explain who
they were and why they were here before they were allowed
inside. Into this area as I mentioned
earlier is where the staples would have been. Let's come up. And get a nice
view of the outer ward. We've got another tower in the
corner here. Now you can see the little
village opposite. Imagine living in one of those houses
and this is the view out your front window. I wouldn't mind
it. Well everybody. It is now
coming to the time where we have to say goodbye to the
Percy family. Goodbye to the castle. And head back out. That
drawbridge. So again my name is Margaret. If you enjoyed the
video please like and share. If you would like to see more
videos like this please let me know. I am open to potential
requests. Um If you are travelling to London make sure
you take a look at our website we'll include the link below
and book a tour with us. We're also offering tours in
Birmingham. We're going to soon to be offering tours as well in
York and Canterbury and virtual tours coming to you not only
from all over this country but from countries all over the
world. So I hope you guys had a good time today. One final view at the gatehouse
before we say goodbye and head back to the 2-1st century.
