Edlingham Castle

Edlingham Castle lies in a verdant valley southwest of Alnwick in Northumberland, evolving from a late 13th-century hall house into a fortified stronghold by the Felton family. William de Felton purchased the manor in 1295 and likely constructed the original hall beside an earlier Norman church, which his descendants later surrounded with defensive curtain walls—possibly a response to Scottish raids. The Swineburn family acquired the castle in 1514, though it fell into dereliction after the Civil War and by 1661 served merely as a quarry for building stone. Now in English Heritage care since 1975, the castle is regarded by architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner as among Northumberland's most interesting medieval ruins.