Ravensworth Castle, Lamesley

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Ravensworth Castle
Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England
Ravensworth Castle - geograph.org.uk - 1558897.jpg
Site information
ConditionRuined
Location
Tyne and Wear UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Ravensworth Castle
Shown within Tyne and Wear
Coordinates 54°55′35″N1°38′19″W / 54.9264°N 1.6387°W / 54.9264; -1.6387
Grid reference grid reference NZ23255914
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameRavensworth Castle
Designated1 February 1967
Reference no. 1025190

Ravensworth Castle is a ruinous Grade II* listed building and a scheduled monument situated at Lamesley, Tyne and Wear, England. The building has been destroyed and rebuilt a number of times, and was the seat of the Ravensworth barons, the Liddells.

Contents

History

The castle may have started as a solar tower, which could have been added to an existing manor house in circa 1315. Further towers appear to have been added incrementally throughout the course of the 14th century. [1]

Early owners included Fitz-Marmaduke, Viscount Lumley and Gascoigne. In 1607 the castle was purchased by Thomas Liddell, a wealthy Newcastle-upon-Tyne merchant. [2] [3] Liddell and his family would hold onto the estate for the following 300 years; much of their fortune would come from coal mining on the land, beginning in the early 17th century. [1]

In 1724 Sir Henry Liddell built a substantial mansion within the curtilage of the castle, but this was demolished in 1808 by Sir Thomas Liddell, and replaced by a grand house designed in the Gothic Revival style by architect John Nash. The Duke of Wellington was entertained there in October 1827. [1]

Georgiana, Lady Bloomfield, daughter of Sir Thomas, wrote about visiting the castle in 1831, while still in her childhood. [4]

The property became a school for girls in the 1920s. [5]

Around 1935 the family began mining for coal directly under the house, with demolition of the building starting around the same time. The intention was to use the wreckage to build a model village, but with the interruption of World War II, only three houses were created. [1] The majority of the house had been demolished by 1953. [6]

Ravensworth Castle was designated a Grade II* listed building in 1967. [2] It was included on English Heritage's Register of Buildings at Risk in 2002. [7]

Restoration series

The castle was featured in the BBC's television programme Restoration . All thirty candidates from the series also featured in a book which was produced after the series. [8]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Ravensworth: Castle and Estate: Conservation Plan: Final Report" (PDF). North of England Civic Trust. April 2008. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  2. 1 2 Historic England. "Ravensworth Castle, Lamesley (1025190)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  3. ↑ Henderson, Tony. "Ravensworth Castle: Experts to investigate historic at-risk castle". The Journal.
  4. ↑ Reminiscences of Court and Diplomatic Life (2 vols.), 1883: record of Georgiana's life, career as a courtier and the wife of a diplomat.
  5. ↑ "Lady Park". Lamesley Parish Council. Retrieved 17 August 2025.
  6. ↑ "Ravensworth Castle, County Durham". Gatehouse Gazetter. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  7. ↑ "Ravensworth Castle (medieval)". TW Sitelines. Retrieved 17 August 2025.
  8. ↑ Wilkinson, Phillip (2003) "Restoration - Discovering Britain's hidden architectural treasures" Headline Book Publishing, pages 114–117.
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