Bamborough Castle

Bamborough Castle, an ancient fortress on the coast of Northumberland, 5 miles E. of Belford, and 16½ SE. of Berwick. It crowns a basaltic rock, 150 feet high, and accessible only on the SE. side. According to the Saxon Chronicle, it was founded about 547 by Ida the 'Flame-bearer,' first king of Northumbria, and named Bebbanburh, after Bebbe, his queen. In 642 it was unsuccessfully besieged by Penda, the heathen king of Mercia; and during the Danish descents on England it twice was partly demolished. Robert de Moubray, the rebellious Earl of Northumberland, having fallen into the hands of William Rufus in 1095, his countess surrendered the stronghold under the threat of seeing his eyes seared out. When Northumberland was granted to Henry, son of David I. of Scotland, Bamborough Castle was reserved for the English crown, and here Baliol acknowledged Edward I.'s supremacy in 1296. During the Wars of the Roses, it was the scene of several conflicts, and was so battered and destroyed that it has not again been used as a fortress. In the reign of Elizabeth, its governor was Sir John Forster, and it continued in his family till Tom Forster forfeited it for his share in the '15, as is finely told in Mr Besant's romance. Lord Crewe, Bishop of Durham, then bought it, with the Forster estates, and bequeathed it in 1721 to trustees for benevolent purposes. The restoration of the castle, and its conversion to charitable uses, were chiefly carried out by the Rev. Dr John Sharpe; its income (about £9000) being expended in providing a dispensary; funds for maintaining, educating, and starting in life poor children; appliances for the rescue of shipwrecked sailors; the repair of churches; and aiding young men at the universities. In 1894 it was purchased from the trustees by Lord Armstrong, and endowed as an almshouse. Bamborough village, near the castle, was a royal borough before the Conquest, and in the time of Edward I. returned two members to parliament. Grace Darling (q.v.) is buried in the churchyard. See Freeman's English Towns and Districts (1883); and vol. i. of the History of Northumberland (1893).