Castle Heaton Castle
Has been described as a Certain Masonry Castle, and also as a Certain Bastle
There are masonry ruins/remnants remains
| Name | Castle Heaton Castle |
| Alternative Names | Heaton near Coldstream; Heton; Old Heaton |
| Historic Country | Northumberland |
| Modern Authority | Northumberland |
| 1974 Authority | Northumberland |
| Civil Parish | Cornhill on Tweed |
Remains of a quadrangular castle founded in 1328-40 destroyed in 1496 and again in 1513 by King James IV. Out of use by 1559. The surviving remains consist of two buttresses set against the north east wall of the stable and the probable remains of a turret and rampart. The site is now covered by farm buildings. (PastScape)
Vaulted defensible building. Late medieval. Squared stone and random rubble, Welsh slate roof. c.70 ft. by 25 ft. 2 storeys. Long west side has stone steps to 1st-floor doorway; some of the steps are worn, others renewed, but the wall beneath them is old. Under the steps a C16 or C17 doorway with alternating-block surround and rounded arrises. Left of the steps a projection c.8 ft. outside the line of the wall. This has a chamfered plinth and medieval masonry. It appears to be solid. Left of this a further section, still projecting but not so far, also has a chamfered plinth and a window with a steeply-sloping sill. The left section has a later window and an original slit window. On 1st floor C19 windows in old masonry. On east side two buttresses with offsets and 2 blocked slit windows. 1st floor is rebuilt on this side. Interior has a high round tunnel vault rising from c.3 ft. above ground. The walls are c. 3 ft. 6 inches thick normally and much thicker where there are projections. The south gable has been largely rebuilt. (Listed Building Report)
The Eton family (later Hetons) were tenants of the Bishop of Durham in this part of Norhamshire. They had a strong house on this site before the site was sold to Thomas Grey in 1328. Shortly afterwards, Grey knocked the house down and built a very strong, square complex including a keep and a great hold called the Lion's Tower, all contained within a wall with turrets at its four corners and a southern entrance. In 1398, a later Thomas Grey exchanged Heton with the Neville's Castle at Wark
Heton was sacked by King James IV in 1496 and again in 1513, leaving it a virtual ruin. When the Greys obtained legal ownership again in 1559, they had little incentive to repair the buildings, they being ruinous. (PastScape ref. Dodds 1999)
'It was perhaps the work of Sir Thomas Gray... who succeeded his father in 1344.' (King 2007 p. 389)
Not scheduled
This is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law
Historic England Scheduled Monument Number
Historic England Listed Building number(s)
Images Of England
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
| OS Map Grid Reference | NT901419 |
| Latitude | 55.6705894470215 |
| Longitude | -2.15878009796143 |
| Eastings | 390110 |
| Northings | 641910 |
