Sprawling dramatically across nine acres of land, high on it`s rocky perch above the Northumberland coastline, Bamburgh is one of the largest inhabited castles in the Country. It sits some 45 metres above sea level on a natural plateau of volcanic dolerite. The oldest part of structure that can be seen now the Keep was built in 1164AD with stones quarried from nearby North Sunderland that were transported on horseback and by man power. The keep was built with the intention of being impenetrable, with the walls being some 3 - 4 metres thick. Throughout the centuries Bamburgh was attacked many times over by the Scots and in 1464 during the War of the Roses it became the first Castle to be defeated by artillery attack. Over the centuries in the 1700`s and 1800`s the Castle fell into a state of disrepair before being bought in 1894 by the Victorian Industrialist Lord Armstrong who also owned Cragside and completed the restoration.
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