Dilston Castle

Dilston Castle is a ruined tower house in the parish of Corbridge, Northumberland, in the north of England. The tower and the private chapel beside it are both scheduled monuments and Grade I listed buildings, which places them among the most highly protected historic structures in the country.

What is Dilston Castle?

It is a medieval defensive tower of the kind built across the Anglo-Scottish borderlands, where raids were a constant threat. Tall, narrow and thick-walled, such towers gave a landowning family a safe place to retreat. Dilston is what remains of a much larger residence that once stood on the same spot.

Who built it and when?

The tower is usually credited to Sir William Claxton and dated to around 1417. Some accounts say it replaced an earlier pele tower. No document fixes the date exactly, and it is generally placed in the 15th century. The estate passed to the Radcliffe family through the marriage of Edward Radcliffe to the Claxton heiress.

How did the site change under the Radcliffes?

Sir Francis Radcliffe built a Jacobean manor and folded the old tower into it. The new house became known as Dilston Hall. The tower stopped being a stand-alone fortress and became part of a comfortable family home.

The Earl of Derwentwater and the Jacobite story

The best-known figure linked with Dilston is James Radcliffe, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater. He took part in the Jacobite rising of 1715. He was convicted of treason and executed in 1716. Around 1709-1710 he had begun a grander mansion at Dilston, and it was never finished. After his death the estate went to Greenwich Hospital. The ruinous hall was demolished in 1765, leaving the original tower house standing alone.

What else is there to see?

The chapel beside the castle dates from around 1616. It is a rare example of a post-Reformation recusant chapel, built for a Catholic family at a time when open Catholic worship was restricted. A gateway at the site carries an inscription with the initials of Sir Francis Radcliffe and his wife Isobel.

The tower was sold in 1874 to William Beaumont, later Lord Allendale. Today the site is owned by Cambian Dilston College and is looked after by the Northumbrian Jacobite Society. Because it sits within a college estate, check access arrangements before you travel.

Frequently asked questions

Where is Dilston Castle? It is at Dilston, in the parish of Corbridge, Northumberland, England.

Is Dilston Castle a ruin? Yes. The surviving tower house is roofless and the later hall is gone, but the tower and chapel are protected as Grade I listed buildings and scheduled monuments.

Who lived at Dilston? The Claxton family built the tower, and the Radcliffes inherited it through marriage. The most famous of them was the 3rd Earl of Derwentwater, executed in 1716 after the Jacobite rising.

What is the chapel? A private chapel from around 1616, valued today as a rare surviving post-Reformation recusant chapel.

Who looks after the site today? The land belongs to Cambian Dilston College, and the Northumbrian Jacobite Society maintains the castle.