Barnard Castle

Acquired 1475

Barnard occupies a commanding position overlooking the River Tees. Beginning as a small fortified enclosure in the late Eleventh/Twelfth Centuries, it developed into a 6-1/2 acre oblong structure during the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. It was divided into four baileys or wards; the inner ward inside the small stone walled enclosure, the middle ward to the south, the town ward to the east, and the outer wart which is about equal to the other three together and most of which is bounded by sheer cliff.

The most interesting feature of the castle is it cylindrical great tower, which is located at the northwest of the inner ward astride the curtain wall. Known as the Round Tower and built of sandstone blocks which are in contrast to the rougher masonry of the curtain wall, it is around 36 ft. across and 40 ft. tall, with a battered plinth, though it was taller in its heyday. There are indications that the tower, of early Thirteenth Century construction, was raised on the ruins of an even earlier building. The Round Tower is unusual in that it has a forebuilding. To the southwest of the Tower, projects a narrow range of rooms that are the remains of a one story Thirteenth Century Great Hall.

Barnard was besieged by Alexander II of Scotland in 1216. It was still in the possession of the Bailoils, although the castle's ownership was being contested by the Bishops of Durham. A descendant to the Bailiols was John, who became Scotland's King in 1292. When John was deposed in 1296, the castle passed to the Bishop of Durham. Around 1300, it was granted to Edward I to the Earl of Warwick. In 1475, Barnard, became the property of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, through his wife, Anne Neville, daughter of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. A white boar, Richard III's emblem, is carved on a window soffit in the west wall of the inner bailey.

Home