Ford Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Above the Till valley, in the small village of Ford in north Northumberland, Ford Castle is described as the oldest quadrangular courtyard castle in the county. Its construction was authorised in 1338, when Sir William Heron obtained a licence to crenellate to fortify his residence, in a region exposed to Scottish incursions. Of the original enclosure with four corner towers, three towers survive, including the massive King James's Tower to the north-west, with walls about 4.5 metres thick at the base and a basement covered by a ribbed pointed barrel vault. The fortress became a mansion in 1694, received Gothick decoration in the 18th century for Sir John Hussey Delaval, and then a restoration in 17th-century spirit by the Scottish architect David Bryce for Louisa, Marchioness of Waterford, from 1862. Listed Grade I, the castle has belonged since 1907 to the Joicey family, as part of the Ford & Etal estate. Long the county's field studies centre, from 2012 to 2020 it housed a residential outdoor activity centre for schoolchildren, whose operator withdrew during the Covid-19 crisis. It cannot be visited as a monument open to the public.