Featherstone Castle
Has been described as a Certain Tower House
There are major building remains
| Name | Featherstone Castle |
| Alternative Names | Feeatherstonhaughe; Fetherstonehaugh; Fetherstonhawgh; Fetherstonhaughe |
| Historic Country | Northumberland |
| Modern Authority | Northumberland |
| 1974 Authority | Northumberland |
| Civil Parish | Featherstone |
Country house. Possibly an early C13 hall-house (now incorporated in west range) with early C14 south-west tower; early C17 alterations; remainder c.1812-30 for Thomas Wallace. Coursed rubble with dressings; slate and stone- flagged roofs; stone chimneys. 4 ranges with corner towers around a rectangular courtyard; nursery wing on north-east tower. Castellated style. Mainly C19 fenestration and embattled parapets.
Embattled west front. Buttressed 2-storey hall range: early C17 ogee-headed doorway to cross-passage (possibly re-set early C13 pointed doorway facing courtyard at far end of passage); two c.1330 cross windows with cusped trefoiled heads. 3-stage early C14 L-plan south-west tower: mullioned windows; scattered loops; original parapet on head corbels with corner bartizans; slightly-taller look-out turret. L-plan stairway to 2-storey added porch on west face of tower. 3-stage north-west tower: small (re-set?) C13 angle buttress; windows with arched heads; taller stair turret; single-storey, 2-bay addition on north.
Embattled south front. Early C14 tower at west. 3-bay centre with taller 2-storey semicircular bay and tower on east have mainly grouped lights with arched heads. Porch on south face of east tower has 4-centred archway and battered angle buttresses. L-plan stair and screen wall on east return of porch.
Buttressed 2-storey, 4-bay east range: mullioned windows with cinquefoil heads; pointed doorway; low-pitched stone-flagged roof. Taller north-east tower has similar details as south-east tower. 2-storey, 4-bay nursery wing has mainly mullioned windows with arched heads, crowstepped east gable and 2-storey semicircular bay on rear.
North range partly hidden by later outbuildings may incorporate earlier masonry; flanking east and west towers already described.
Single-storey wing in courtyard links east and west ranges.
Interior greatly altered in C19
South-west tower: 2 barrel-vaulted basements; fragments of spiral stone stair on second floor. C19 Tudor-Gothic decoration in west range. (Listed Building Report)
Featherstone Castle is a large and complex country house. It is four-sided with a central courtyard and a tower at each corner. The tallest tower is C14 and is the main piece of medieval work in the building. The origins of the castle lie in the medieval period when the manor of Featherstone belonged to the Featherstonehaugh family. The oldest part of the building may be a C13 hall house, which now lies within the west range, or Gun Room. This early work is difficult to interpret and some of it may not be in its original position. In C14 the tower was added to the building and it is typical of many towers in south Northumberland. Little changed at the castle from this time until C17, when it was remodelled. (Keys to the Past)
Not scheduled
This is a Grade 1 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 | NY673609 |
| Latitude | 54.9421806335449 |
| Longitude | -2.51062989234924 |
| Eastings | 367380 |
| Northings | 560960 |
