Coupland Castle

Coupland Castle is situated in the village of Coupland, 4 miles (6 km) to the north-west of Wooler, Northumberland, England. It is a Grade I listed building. The Grade I listed "castle" is actually a tower house "built after 1584, with irregular later additions".

1. History

Coupland Castle is a tower house rather than a castle, and was probably built at the end of the 16th century, sometime after 1584. The tower has three storeys, with an attic on top and a small projecting tower carried up the south wall. Between the two towers, the entrance to the castle with the date 1594 inscribed on the door jamb. The building is made of rubble from different stone types. In addition, the building has a slate roof. A date-stone over a fireplace in the tower engraved 'GW 1615 MW' is thought to represent George and Mary Wallis, owners at that date. Other historic features include the upper spiral staircase, designed to be defended by a left-handed swordsman, and a resident ghost who was said to haunt the Court Room, before reputedly being exorcised in 1925. A separate farmhouse was added to the south-west of the tower in the 18th century. In 1713, the property was purchased from the Wallis family by Sir Chaloner Ogle a successful naval officer. During his command of HMS Swallow (1703) against the notorious pirate Bartholomew Roberts in the Battle of Cape Lopez in February 1722, Roberts was killed.
The castle has been added to over the years and was restored in the 19th century. In 1820 it was extended when a three-bay two-storey house was built adjoining the tower. The Bates family owned the estate in the 18th century. Elizabeth Bates, heiress to the estate, married Matthew Culley (born 1731), the noted agriculturist, in 1783. In 1820 the house was the residence of a later Matthew Culley, High Sheriff of Northumberland in that year. The Culleys sold the estate in 1928. Coupland Castle was designated a Grade I listed building on 21 September 1951. The listing states that significant alterations had been completed in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries and then, circa 1820-25. Robin Jell bought the property in 1979 and lived there with his second wife Fiona. Jell died in 2019 and in 2020, the castle was put up for sale. Jell had restored the 13,747sq ft main house; the property included a three-bedroom cottage and a lodge, as well as a series of outbuildings.

1. References

Fry, Plantagenet Somerset, The David & Charles Book of Castles, David & Charles, 1980. ISBN 0-7153-7976-3

1. External links

Media related to Coupland Castle at Wikimedia Commons

Nearby Places View Menu

Coupland, Northumberland

Coupland is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Ewart, in Northumberland, England. It is on the north bank of the River Glen about 4 miles (6 km) to the northwest of Wooler. In 1951 the parish had a population of 216.

Neighbourhood

Lanton, Northumberland

Lanton is a hamlet and former civil parish, now in the parish of Ewart, in the north of the county of Northumberland, near the town of Wooler, the Cheviots and the Scottish Borders. The hamlet lies in the valley of Glendale, which takes its name from the River Glen. In 1951 the parish had a population of 56. A prominent landmark on Lanton Hill is the Lanton Monument built by Alexander Davison in dedication to his brother, John Davison of Lanton, in 1827.

Landmark Monument

879 m

Yeavering

Yeavering () is a hamlet in the north-east corner of the civil parish of Kirknewton in the English county of Northumberland. It is located on the River Glen at the northern edge of the Cheviot Hills. It is noteworthy as the site of a large Anglo-Saxon period settlement that archaeologists have interpreted as being one of the seats of royal power held by the kings of Bernicia in the 7th century AD. Evidence for human activity in the vicinity has been found from the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age periods, although the first significant settlement at Yeavering occurred in the Iron Age. In this period, a heavily inhabited hillfort was constructed on Yeavering Bell which appears to have been a major settlement centre at the time. According to Book 2 Chapter 14 of the Ecclesiastical History of the Venerable Bede (673–735), in the year 627 Bishop Paulinus of York accompanied the Northumbrian king Edwin and his queen Æthelburg to their royal vill (the Latin term is villa regia), Adgefrin, where Paulinus spent 36 days preaching and baptising converts in the river Glen.

Historic Site Landmark

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Battle of Yeavering

The Battle of Yeavering (or Battle of Geteryne) was fought in 1415 between English and Scottish forces near Yeavering in Northumberland. A small English force consisting of 440 men led by the Earl of Westmoreland defeated 4000 Scots. Fought in the same year as the Battle of Agincourt, which famously demonstrated the efficacy of the longbow against cavalry, it is notable that the English side at Yeavering consisted mostly of archers. The site is marked by a battle stone, probably originally a Bronze Age standing stone.

Historic Site Landmark