Twizel

Northumberland

Just north of the battlefield of Flodden, on the Till bank is the remains of Twizel castle.

Originally it was an early 15th century pele tower with a ‘barmkin’, (medieval defensive enclosure) held by Sir John Heron but by 1496 it had been destroyed, by invading Scots, and abandoned.

The estate was sold to the Selby family in 1561 and a survey of the ruin reported;

“there has been one tower, or pele, which is of ancient time decayed and cast down, and there remains one part or quarter thereof, and a barmkin about it”.

By 1685 it had been sold to Sir Francis Blake for nearly £2,000 and he employed the services of the architect, James Nesbit to create a five storied gothic type mansion on the site of the old pele tower. After some forty years in the building, the unfinished work stopped only to be dismantled for a new mansion at Tillmouth Park.

The Twizel castle we see today, is now a ruined two story folly.

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