~The Book Of Wonder Encyclopaedia~

Towering dramatically in isolation, cresting a ridge over 100 feet high on a crag of the basaltic outcrop Great Whin Sill, the skeletal remains of Dunstanburgh Castle appears to be a cloaked spectral body stretching it's arms to the sky as it peers out over the grey, cold expanse of the North Sea crashing onto the rocks below.

There had been no previous fortification on the site, but modern day excavation has uncovered Roman pottery and Saxon stoneware that indicate a settlement on the site in the C2^nd.

Passed down through the line of Odard of Bamburgh the barony of Embleton fell into the hands of Simon de Montfort in the mid C13^th and upon his death the barony was seized by Henry III who gave it to his second son Edmund, Earl of Lancaster whose son Thomas inherited it in 1296

Dunstanburgh Castle itself was begun in 1312 for Thomas, Earl of Lancaster who needed a stronghold against Scots raiders and a sanctuary to protect him from the king to whom he showed disloyalty- he was executed in 1322 for treason. He also saw the potential of the coves below as a replacement port for Berwick which had been seized, once again, by the Scots.

A man-made harbour was later dug out with a channel going to the west of the castle which almost made it an island. This no longer exists, although Henry VIII's fleet is known to have been anchored there in the early part of the C16^th.

The most impressive remains are of the gatehouse which has survived a later one, built in the mid C14^th for John of Gaunt, further to the west. He had ordered the gatehouse to be improved into a keep. Then in the early C15^th the keep was overhauled, the windows were glassed in and much re-building was carried out to fortify the castle.

At the close of the War of the Roses [1455 -1485] Dunstanburgh was the last stronghold to fall. Bombarded with cannon-fire it was once again left in ruins. An attempt was made at restoration in the late C15^th but the local population took the stone and timber from the castle to use in the building and repair of their own homes.

Dunstanburgh was sold by the Crown in the early C17^th, from then the Greys of Chillingham held it until the late C19^th. The estate then passed through the hands of Samuel Eyres then on to Sir Arthur Sutherland of Newcastle. The National Trust took on the estate in 1930 and it has been maintained by English Heritage since the mid 1980's.

As tradition expects Dunstanburgh Castle has its share of ethereal inhabitants. Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, - whose executioner made 11 blows with the axe and still, supposedly, left Thomas' head hanging by a thread of skin, - is said to walk the estate bemoaning his fate.

Queen Margaret of Anjou, - who made a legendary escape through a tower window during a seige thinking she was going to drop into the sea channel and board a ship, - is thought to be the 'Lady' of Dunstanburgh, the usual wraith-like figure floating through the ruins still searching for freedom.

A local legend involves a Knight called Sir Guy who turned up at the ruins one stormy night and was confronted by a wizard who told him of a damsel in distress, [when were there not in legend?] and gave him the choice of a sword or a horn to aid in the rescue. Sir Guy wrongly chose the horn, the wizard disappeared, Sir Guy collapsed, and to this day the damsel is still unrescued and Sir Guy wanders round the ruins looking for a way in.