[Illustration: ALNWICK CASTLE, FROM THE LION BRIDGE.]
[Illustration: THE BARBICAN GATE.]
[Illustration: THE BARBICAN.]
Journeying northward through Northumberland, and following the
coastline--for here England narrows as the Scottish border is
approached--the road crosses the diminutive river Alne, running through
a deep valley, and standing in an imposing situation on its southern
bank is the renowned stronghold of the Percies and guardian of the
Border, Alnwick Castle. The great fortress, as we now see it, was built
as a defence against the Scots, and was protected on the northward by
the river-valley and a deep ravine, which formerly cut it off from the
village, which is as ancient as the fortress, as its quaint old
Pottergate Tower attests. Roman remains have been found on the site,
and it was also inhabited by the Saxons, the castle at the time of the
Norman Conquest being held by Gilbert Tysen, a powerful Northumbrian
chief. It was then a primitive timber fortress in a wild region, for the
earliest masonry works are Norman, and are attributed to Tysen's
descendants. Alnwick Castle is a cluster of semicircular and angular
bastions, surrounded by lofty walls, defended at intervals by towers,
and enclosing a space of about five acres. It has three courts or wards,
each defended formerly by massive gates, with portcullis, porters lodge,
and a strong guardhouse, beneath which was a dungeon. Trap-doors are the
only entrances to the latter, into which the prisoners were lowered by
ropes. From the village the entrance to the castle is through the
barbican, or outer gate, a work of gigantic strength and massive
grandeur, which has been the scene of many a brave encounter. Near by is
the Postern Tower, a sally-port adjacent to the "Bloody Gap" and
"Hotspur's Chair." The history of this famous stronghold is practically
the history of this portion of the realm, for in all the Border warfare
that continued for centuries it was conspicuous. In the reign of William
Rufus it was gallantly defended by Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland, in
the memorable siege by the Scots under King Malcolm III. The garrison
were about surrendering, being almost starved, when a private soldier
undertook their deliverance. He rode out to the besiegers' camp,
carrying the keys of the castle dangling from his lance, and presented
himself a suppliant before the Scottish king, as if to deliver up the
keys. Malcolm advanced to receive them, and the soldier pierced him
through the heart. Malcolm fell dead, and in the confusion the bold
trooper sprang upon his horse, dashed across the river, and was safe.
Malcolm's eldest son, Prince Edward, advanced rashly to avenge the
king's death, and fell mortally wounded from the castle. Hammond's Ford,
named for the bold trooper, marks the spot where he and his horse swam
across the Alne, which at the time was swollen. In memory of Malcolm, a
cross stands on the spot where he was slain, and near by is Malcolm's
Well and the ruins of St. Leonard's Chapel, built for the unfortunate
king's expiation. Upon the cross the inscription states that Malcolm
fell November 13, 1093, and that the original cross, decayed by time,
was restored by his descendant, Elizabeth, Duchess of Northumberland, in
1774. Eustace de Vesci, who built St. Leonard's Chapel, lived in the
days of Henry I. and Stephen, and founded the abbey of Alnwick. King
David of Scotland captured the old timber castle there in 1135 on his
great invasion of England, and Eustace afterwards built the first
masonry work of Alnwick Castle, traces of his walls having since been
found.
[Illustration: THE EASTERN ANGLE OF THE BARBICAN.]
[Illustration: THE PERCY BEDSTEAD.]
[Illustration: THE PERCY CROSS.]
Alnwick descended to William, son of Eustace, and in 1174, William the
Lion, returning from an invasion of Cumberland, passed before the
castle, and was captured and sent a prisoner into England. Alnwick
descended to William's son Eustace, who was visited by King John in
1209, and the king there received the homage of Alexander of Scotland.
Eustace was one of the chief barons who wrested Magna Charta from John,
and in the closing year of that reign met his death from an arrow before
Barnard Castle. Henry III. visited Alnwick, and the great Edward I. was
there several times as the guest of John de Vesci near the close of the
thirteenth century. The Barons de Vesci soon afterwards became extinct,
and then the warlike bishop of Durham, Antony Bek, came in and grabbed
the castle. He sold it in 1309 to Henry de Percy, and from this dates
the rise of the great family of the northern Border, who have held
Alnwick for nearly six centuries, its present owner being his
descendant, Algernon George Percy, Duke of Northumberland, in whose
veins flows the blood of so many great families that he can use nine
hundred heraldic devices on his armorial bearings, including those of
many kings and princes. Henry de Percy became the leader of the Border
barons, and, although living at Alnwick only five years, seems to have
rebuilt most of the castle, his son completing it. The Percies became
the Earls of Northumberland, and such warlike lives did they lead (as,
for instance, young Henry Percy, "Hotspur") that it is noted that Henry
Algernon, the fifth earl, was the first of the race who died in bed. The
next of the line was executed for rebellion, and the next was beheaded
at York for conspiring against Queen Elizabeth. The eighth earl,
favoring Mary Queen of Scots, was imprisoned in the Tower, and was one
day found in his chamber shot through the heart. Henry, the ninth earl,
was implicated in the Gunpowder Plot, imprisoned in the Tower, and fined
$250,000. After his release he spent the remainder of his life at
Petworth; Alnwick was neglected; and the direct line of descent
ultimately ended with Elizabeth, daughter of the eleventh earl, who
married the Duke of Somerset in 1682. Her grandson, Algernon, became
Earl of Northumberland, and his daughter, Elizabeth Seymour, was the
ancestress of the present family, her husband being created the first
Duke of Northumberland. Alnwick was then a ruin, but he restored it, and
subsequently, under the direction of the architect Salvin, it was
completely rebuilt, everything worthy of preservation being kept, and
the new work being adapted to the days of the earlier Percies, whose
achievements gave the stronghold such world-wide renown.
[Illustration: CONSTABLE'S TOWER.]
[Illustration: EARL HUGH'S TOWER.]
This famous castle is full of recollections of the great men who
formerly inhabited it. The Constable's Tower, remaining mostly in its
ancient condition, has in an upper apartment arms for fifteen hundred
men, the Percy tenantry, while in the rooms beneath is deposited the
ancient armor. "Hotspur's Chair" is the name given to a seated recess of
the Ravine Tower which was Hotspur's favorite resort, where he sat while
his troops exercised in the castle-yard beneath, and where he had an
admirable lookout to discover an approaching enemy. Through the
loopholes on either side of the seat in this commanding tower there is
an extensive prospect over the valley of the Alne and to the distant
seacoast. The "Bloody Gap," another noted site in the castle, is between
the Ravine and Round Towers. It was the name given to a breach in the
wall made by the Scots during the Border wars, although the exact time
is unknown. According to tradition, three hundred Scots fell within the
breach, and they were ultimately beaten off. Many arrows have been found
in the adjacent walls, so located as to indicate they were shot from the
battlements and windows of the keep when the assailants were making this
breach. Alnwick Castle was restored by Salvin with strict regard to the
rules of mediaeval military architecture. When it was the great Border
stronghold its governor commanded a force of no less than two thousand
men, who were employed in a complicated system of day and night watching
to guard against forays by the Scots. The day watchers began at
daylight, and blew a horn on the approach of the foe, when all men were
bound on pain of death to respond for the general defence. The great
feature of the restored castle is the Prudhoe Tower, built about
twenty-five years ago. After entering the barbican, which admits to the
outer ward, the visitor passes between the Abbot's Tower on the left and
the Corner Tower and Auditor's Tower on the right. Earl Hugh's turreted
tower also rises boldly from the battlements. Passing through the middle
gatehouse, the keep, constructed in the form of a polygon around a
court, is seen on the right hand, and in the gateway-wall is Percy's
famous draw-well, with a statue of St. James above blessing the waters.
Opposite this draw-well is a covered drive which leads to the entrance
of Prudhoe Tower. This tower is a magnificent structure, containing the
family and state-apartments, built and decorated in the Italian style,
and approached by a staircase twelve feet wide. It was built at enormous
cost, and alongside is a vaulted kitchen of ample proportions,
constructed in the baronial style, where there are sufficient facilities
to prepare dinner for six hundred persons at one time, while the
subterranean regions contain bins for three hundred tons of coal. Such
is this great baronial Border stronghold, replete with memories of the
warlike Percies. From here Hotspur sallied forth to encounter the
marauding Scottish force which under Douglas had laid waste England as
far as the gates of York, and almost within the sight of the castle is
the bloody field of Otterbourn, where Douglas fell by Hotspur's own
hand, though the English lost the day and Hotspur himself was captured.
Again, as war's fortunes change, just north of Alnwick is Humbleton
Hill, where the Scots had to fly before England's "deadly arrow-hail,"
leaving their leader, Douglas, with five wounds and only one eye, a
prisoner in the hands of the Percies. It was from Alnwick's battlements
that the countess watched "the stout Earl of Northumberland" set forth,
"his pleasure in the Scottish woods three summer days to take"--an
expedition from which he never returned. Such was the history for
centuries of this renowned castle, which is regarded as presenting the
most perfect specimen now existing, perhaps in the world, of the feudal
stronghold of mediaeval days.
[Illustration: THE DRAW-WELL AND NORMAN GATEWAY.]
[Illustration: Gravestone in the Churchyard of St. Michael & all
Angels.]
And now let us turn from the castle to the church. Almost alongside of
it is St. Michael's Church, built with battlements, as if prepared as
much for defence as for worship, and a watch-tower, made evidently for a
lookout and to hold a beacon to warn of the approach of forays. This was
one of the regular chain of Border beacons. Within the church an old
iron-work lectern still holds the "Book of the Homilies," while the
churchyard is full of ancient gravestones. Alnwick Abbey once existed
down alongside the river, under the protection of the castle, but it has
been long since ruined, and its remains have served as a quarry for the
village buildings until little of them remains. Its extensive domains
are now part of the Duke's Park, and another contributor to this park
was Hulne Priory, the earliest Carmelite monastery in England, founded
in 1240. It stood upon a projecting spur of rising land above the Alne,
backed by rich woods, but was neither large nor wealthy, as the
neighboring abbey eclipsed it. The discipline of the Carmelites was
rigorous. Each friar had a coffin for his cell and slept on straw, while
every morning he dug a shovelful of earth for his grave and crept on his
knees in prayer. Silence, solitude, and strict fasting were the
injunction upon all, and their buildings were sternly simple. The
porter's lodge and curtain-wall enclosing Hulne Priory still stand, and
its outline can be traced, though the ruins are scant. Yet this, like
all else at Alnwick, bears evidence of the troublous times on the
Border. The most important of its remaining buildings is an embattled
tower of refuge from the Scottish invader. Its inscription states that
it was built in 1448 by Sir Henry Percy, fourth Earl of Northumberland.
Opposite Hulne Priory is Brislee Hill, which presents the most renowned
view in Alnwick Park. A tower rises among the trees upon the crest of
the hill from which bonfires now blaze on occasions of festivity. Here,
over the park, can be seen the castle and town, and beyond, to the
eastward, the sea, with its coast-castles as far north as Bamborough.
The little Coquet Island in the distance breaks the expanse of blue
waters. To the westward beyond the moors rises the sharp outline of the
Scottish Border, the Cheviot Hills, running off towards the north-east,
and containing in their depressions the passes through which the Scots
used to pour when they harried Northern England and roused the Alnwick
warriors to defend their firesides.
[Illustration: LECTERN, ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH.]
[Illustration: PORTER'S LODGE, HULNE PRIORY.]