Bamburgh Castle.

Bamburgh Castle is a castle on the northeast coast of England, by the village of Bamburgh in
Northumberland. Bamburgh Castles earliest recorded history begun in AD 547. In AD 547 The Anglo
Saxon kings were in power and Northumbria was the most powerful of seven kingdoms.
Northumbria chose Bamburgh as its capital. According to bamburgh castles website Ida The
Flamebearer lay wooden timbers to create a fortified stockade. After Ida’s death bamburgh was
inherited by his grandson. His grandson’s children Oswald and Oswi were sent away to be educated
and baptised by monks.

Oswald returned to bamburgh becoming a Saint King of Northumbria. St Aidan, a man he had met
whilst he was away, came to Northumbria and together they built lindisfarne priory. Waves of
bloody attacks happened in bamburgh viking axes battered the skulls of monks and in return the
English nailed skins flayed from their enemies onto church doors.

In 1095 William the Conqueror’s forces arrived at bamburgh. Since bamburgh is near
Scotland it became a look out for uprisings and attacks. Bamburgh went through its next
historic phase when it served as a palace for monarchs over the coming centuries. Some of
the kings that stayed there were John, Henry III, Edward II and Edward III to name a few.

During the war of the roses between the houses of Lancaster and York King Henry VI of
Lancaster was living in Bamburgh. After withstanding many centuries of attacks Bamburgh
became the first castle in England to be destroyed by gunfire. In 1610 James I gifted the
castle to a man of the name Claudius Forster. Having been a royal home for over 1200 years,
Bamburgh was passed into private hands. Unable to pay to look after the castle. Bamburgh
became an uninhabitable ruin. The castle or should I say ruin was passed down and when
the owner of it died her grieving husband set up charity to restore the village and the castle.

The husband died quite soon after but not before he managed to raise a lot of money. The
money and the castle was then given to a man named Dr Sharp. He paid for the restoration
of the castle and begun using it as a hospital Dr sharp tried many things to keep the castle in
good condition however despite all of his efforts the castle fell into disrepair once more. It
was bought in 1894 by William Armstrong for the hefty price of £60,000. Armstrong made
his money in designing hydraulic machinery and he planned to make the castle once more
magnificent. Armstrong was an incredibly wealthy man appreciated as a genius. But he died
in 1900 never seeing bamburghs final transformation.

In 1901 his family who had inherited tonnes paid more than £1,000,000 to restore the
castle. When the restoration was completed it became a family residence. Currently it is still
owned by the Armstrong’s and they host weddings and other events at bamburgh castle.
Since the castle is grand and looks like hogwarts in some areas, Some of Harry Potter was
recorded here!