For Halloween, I have decided to post the âwelcomingâ Chillingham Castle, near Wooler, Northumberland, England, known as Britainâs most haunted castle which I recently visited.
The most famous ghost of the castle is the âBlue (or radiant) Boyâ who haunts the âPink Roomâ where the skeleton of a boy dressed in blue was once found bricked up behind a wall.
Chillingham was originally a monastery, a 12th century stronghold which became fully fortified in 1344 by the Grey family. In 1298, King Edward I stayed at the castle on his way to Scotland to battle a Scottish army led by William Wallace. A glazed window in a frame was specially installed for the king, a rarity in such buildings at the time.
Chiilingham is also famous for the herd of Chillingham cattle which has remained remarkably genetically isolated for hundreds of years.
There is an enormous open fire place with a fire in the castle tea shop and the staff are constantly throwing huge logs onto it. I tried to take a photograph from the Minstrelâs Gallery but it sadly turned out pretty awful as I was in a rush and trying not to photograph the diners but I have included it anyway as itâs an interesting room.
The photographs were taken during a recent visit to Chillingham. Next time I go I shall try and get some photographs of the cattle.
1) âWelcomeâ sign in the car park, which is a fair distance from the actual castle.
2) Frontage of the castle.
3) Through the entrance arch.
4) Napkin embroidered with a bat.
5) Carving of a Chillingham bull from the castle chapel.
8) Window in Edward 1stâs Room.
9) The castle tea room with open fire.
And as itâs Halloween I also have âThe Legend of the Spanish Witchâ of Chillingham Castle. If you look at the portrait of the âSpanish Witchâ (which is hanging on a wall in the castle) and into her eyes and should you take anything that you shouldnât from the castle, she will put a curse on you. She actually looked quite a pleasant lady - anyway the wall, on which the portrait is hanging, has numerous letters pinned to it with returned objects (everything from a door handle to lucky heather) from guilty visitors to the castle who have suffered the Spanish Witchâs curse and are begging for forgiveness.
I didnât steal anything but maybe she did pay a trick on me, I was wearing a pendant of a disc of Whitby Jet with a silver design of a sun and moon attached to it (regular followers of this Tumblr may remember that I have Whitby, Yorkshire connections). After leaving the castle, I noticed that the Whitby Jet was missing from the pendant and I was left with just a silver pendant, Perhaps a reminder from the witch that my roots are also in Northumbria that some of my great, great (say âgreatâ about 20 or 30 times) grandparents actually were the de Greyes who lived in Chillingham Castle so many hundreds of years agoâŠâŠ I did find the jet a little later though, in my bra.
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