Chipchase Castle is a 17th-century Jacobean mansion incorporating a substantial 14th-century pele tower, which stands north of Hadrian's Wall, near Wark on Tyne, between Bellingham and Hexham in Northumberland, England. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Grade I listed building. History The Heron family acquired the Manor of Chipchase by the marriage of Walter Heron to the Chipchase heiress. He built a massive four-storey battlemented tower house on the site of an earlier house in the mid-14th century. A survey in 1541 described a "fare tower" with a "manor of stone joined thereto" owned by John Heron. In 1621, Cuthbert Heron (High Sheriff of Northumberland in 1625) demolished the house and built a fine Jacobean mansion, leaving the tower standing and attached to the new house. His first son George was killed at the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644 in the service of Charles I. His second son Cuthbert was created a Baronet by Charles II (see Heron Baronets), but he experienced financial problems which eventually led to the sale of the estate by the Herons early in the 18th century. John Reed, a Newcastle upon Tyne banker, bought the estate in 1734 and carried out major alterations to the castle, including a classical façade to the old tower. The failure of Reed's family bank caused his descendants to sell the estate to the Greys of Backworth in 1821 to defray debts. Today The castle is privately owned. It is associated with the late Paul Torday, the author of the critically acclaimed novel Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, which was made into a popular movie. He lived there with his second wife Penelope (née Taylor), who inherited the estate, and reportedly did much to help manage it. The grounds are open to the public but the Castle is open to the public only in June. THE CHAPEL In the thirteenth century, a chapel already resided at Chipchase. The Insulas had been granted by the Priory and Convent of Hexham, the privilege of a perpetual chantry in the chapel of Chipchase on every other day of the week. The Chaplain was to be provided for at the expense of the mother church of Chollerton but everything else was to be found by the Insulas and their heirs. It seems unlikely that there was a graveyard attached to this chapel for most of the Herons in the seventeenth century were buried in the chancel of Simonburn church. In about 1723 Archdeacon Shard recorded that at Chipchase there “is a little chapel in which the sacraments have been formerly administered, and where at present there is a service performed four times in the year. It hath neither books, vessels or vestments belonging to it. There is a bell lying in the chapel, but it hath never been fitted and hung up. The chapel hath never been either plastered or floored.” John Reed (1734-1754) built a new chapel in which he was buried on 4 April 1754. This is the chapel still in use, standing just within the park gates. In the chapel there are several tablets and monumental inscriptions in reference to members of the Reed family, many of whom lie in a vault beneath. Arnold Robinson designed a single-light window in memory of Captain Hugh Taylor. The window depicts the Angel of the Lord appearing to Mary Magdalene outside the sepulchre after the resurrection. The central diamond of the window contains the badge of the Scots Guards. The window is inscribed “In Memoriam/Captain Hugh Taylor/Scots Guards/Born Christmas Eve 1880/Killed in action Dec.18th 1914.” Captain Taylor is buried in Le Trou Aid Post Cemetery in Fleurbaix. He was the son of Thomas and Mona Taylor of Chipchase Castle, Wark-on-Tyne and husband of Mary Taylor. THE HOUSE TODAY The whole of the middle of the east front, between the wings, is occupied by the long, low entrance hall. To the left of the hall is the drawing room and to the right the dining room, with the offices beyond it in the low Georgian wing that completes the quadrangle. Above the hall, and rising two storeys, is the music room, occupying the space of what would have been the great chamber of Cuthbert Heron's Jacobean House. The staircase follows a pattern occasionally found in Elizabethan and Jacobean buildings, in which the open well is replaced by a solid column – about seven feet square – round which the stairs rise in a series of short, easy flights. On the west wall of the music-room, facing the bay is the remarkable oak chimney-piece, which is believed to have been brought to Chipchase from Newcastle by one of the Reeds. It dates from the early years of the 17th century, and gives the impression of having been carved by a Flemish craftsman, possibly working in this country. The over mantel, which is exceptionally well executed in deep relief, is rich in symbolism. Tall figures representing four of the five senses – taste and feeling on the left, sight and sound on the right – flank the central panel, which depicts Father Time driving a chariot that carries the four elements. On the front of the chariot is a pole supporting a globe, which has the signs of the zodiac on its upper half and classical gods and goddesses on the lower half. The projecting cornice is composed of seven shields, coupled at the corners, which demarcate four panels. The shields depict the virtues, with charity in the middle flanked by faith and hope, while the panels contain emblems evidently denoting the four continents. http://www.chipchasecastle.com

Parking is in the car park by the nursery at all times other than if taking a tour of the Castle between 2-5pm during June when one can park on the gravel in front of the Castle. info@chipchasecastle.com