Edlingham Castle
Visited 17 September 2004
“100 people were surveyed and asked to name a haunted castle in the North East of England.” If Les Dennis had ever asked that question on Family Fortunes how many would had even considered saying Edlingham Castle? In fact I’d bet that even if Les had asked 1000 people not one would have considered this jewel in the heart of the Northumbrian countryside. It’s only a stone’s throw away from the world famous Alnwick Castle, even more famous since a pre-pubescent magician by the name of Harry Potter decided to go to school there and have allsorts of wondrous magical adventures with that ginger kid with the rat. The thing is, Edlingham Castle doesn’t have any famous ghost stories connected to it, and in fact no one has ever conducted an investigation there. There have been strange noises heard coming from the ruined castle at night, and people have seen strange lights moving in and out of the barely standing stonework. So I’ve put a team together and tonight we will be the first ‘ghost hunters’ ever to find out what Edlingham has to offer.
The little village of Edlingham is about 10 miles from Rothbury on the road to Alnwick and, although it doesn’t have a very large population, it’s a delightful place today. The author George Mark was not too impressed with it, however, when in 1730 he wrote that it was "most unagreeable to the traveller, having nothing to recommend it, if we exclude the church, which is in tolerable order as to appearance". He also complained about "the frightful moors", "the intolerable roads", and "the lack of good spring water".
Today the local tourist board describe Edlingham as "a jewel in our heritage crown, encapsulating medieval power, social history and architecture in its church and castle".
In the 12th century, John de Edlingham built a two storey house near the burn. In 1296 Sir William de Felton fortified the house by means of a strong palisade inside the moat with a gatehouse on the north side. Over the years the building was improved and from about 1400 the house was referred to as a castle.
In the years that followed, the need to defend lessened, and the land and building were used to assist farming with the lower rooms in the building used to house farm animals. Decay set in and the castle was abandoned in 1650. Over the 300 years that followed the decay continued and the stone from the disused castle was stolen to be used in other buildings nearby, eventually over six foot of windswept soil covered what remained of Edlingham Castle.
In 1978 English Heritage took it upon themselves to start excavations and make the remaining masonry safe for visitors.
Although little is known of haunting at the castle, the famous witch Margaret Stothard was trialled for witchcraft here over 300 years ago, could her spirit remain at the castle to this day?
Visitors to the ruin during the day have reported having their clothes tugged by unseen hands. A visitor with medium abilities has said that the spirit of a young girl haunts the ruins, she has a playful nature and when she tugs at the clothes of people it’s to get their attention, not to scare them. She means no harm and is a very friendly spirit. We don’t know if this medium was correct, perhaps there is the spirit of a girl here, hopefully we’ll be able to find out.
Today the local tourist board describe Edlingham as "a jewel in our heritage crown, encapsulating medieval power, social history and architecture in its church and castle".
In the 12th century, John de Edlingham built a two storey house near the burn. In 1296 Sir William de Felton fortified the house by means of a strong palisade inside the moat with a gatehouse on the north side. Over the years the building was improved and from about 1400 the house was referred to as a castle.
In the years that followed, the need to defend lessened, and the land and building were used to assist farming with the lower rooms in the building used to house farm animals. Decay set in and the castle was abandoned in 1650. Over the 300 years that followed the decay continued and the stone from the disused castle was stolen to be used in other buildings nearby, eventually over six foot of windswept soil covered what remained of Edlingham Castle.
In 1978 English Heritage took it upon themselves to start excavations and make the remaining masonry safe for visitors.
Although little is known of haunting at the castle, the famous witch Margaret Stothard was trialled for witchcraft here over 300 years ago, could her spirit remain at the castle to this day?
Visitors to the ruin during the day have reported having their clothes tugged by unseen hands. A visitor with medium abilities has said that the spirit of a young girl haunts the ruins, she has a playful nature and when she tugs at the clothes of people it’s to get their attention, not to scare them. She means no harm and is a very friendly spirit. We don’t know if this medium was correct, perhaps there is the spirit of a girl here, hopefully we’ll be able to find out.
Harry Dalton and Ryan Elwell were to be my companions for this vigil, we arrived in the castle car park at 11pm, I turned the headlights off and we were in absolute darkness. Directly in front of us was Edlingham Church, to our left were fields, and a five minute walk to our right was the castle. We got out of the car and Ryan said what all three of us were thinking "What the f**k is that?" There was what can only be described as a very loud, very heavy breathing noise coming from the fields to our left, it sounded very close, close enough to even be in the trees which were now directly in front of us. "It's a dragon" whispered Ryan. I was fairly sure it wasn't a dragon but what the hell was it? I tried to rationalise, a horse or a bull snoring perhaps? Do horses snore? Not a clue but it was the only logical explanation I could come up with. "Let's go and find out what it is" I whispered to Harry, "aye come on!" was his reply. All of a sudden the mystery grew deeper when a scream came from across the fields in the direction of the ‘dragon noise’. "What the f**k was THAT?" Ryan said for the second time in the space of five minutes. We shone our torches into the trees and into the field in front of us, I couldn't see anything, but what I could see was that if we wanted to go and find out what was there we'd have to climb over a barbed wire fence. "Hold my torch" I said to Ryan as I climbed onto an old stone wall. "Where the hell are you going?" he said, "in there" I said pointing to where the noise was coming from. "WHAT?" "You'll be going alone and you won't be coming back out alive" was his reply. I stood on the wall scanning the area hoping to see something, anything "Hello" I shouted. The unusual noise continued.
We all agreed to head to the castle and then if the noise was still there when we came back we'd investigate further. I took a photo in the graveyard of the church as we passed and when I looked at the photo on my camera there was a large white area on the photo with no real reason for it to be there, people have said it's a the finger from a glove but no one was wearing gloves. We continued towards the castle, which we could just about make out in front of us in the darkness. The castle was smaller than I expected but every bit as imposing as the other ruined castle we'd visited recently - Dunstanburgh Castle. As we walked towards the castle, there was movement all around us in the fields, sheep scared by our torchlight as they probably don't often get visitors here in the middle of the night very often.
We finally reached the castle. We all felt fine, Ryan had calmed down after the 'dragon' experience earlier and we headed towards a large tower to our left of the main keep of the castle. Behind the tower we found a room in tact that we could go inside we cautiously entered and had a look around. Nothing much is left of Edlingham Castle in all honesty, it is very decayed and very little remains. In fact if English Heritage hadn’t stepped in to save what is left of the castle just over 25 years ago, there’s every chance this castle would no longer be here in any capacity. We made our way to the main entrance of the Castle Keep. Nothing much was happening until Harry saw something. "You were there" he said to me, "no I wasn't I was over here" was my reply. He explained how he saw a black figure sitting on a bit of wall just over his right shoulder and he thought it was me, when he realised I was over his left shoulder he looked again and whatever it was had gone. Harry looked very pale. "Hello" I shouted, "we know that you are here, we don't mean any harm, we just want to see you, can you appear again?" "Can you make a noise, do anything?" Nothing happened.
We were all very alert now, there was much more of an atmosphere, we weren't alone and although none of us said it, we all knew it. We were being watched. We checked the four windows in the tower looking down upon us. The tower is just to the left of the keep, there was nothing at any of the windows, nothing we could see anyway. There was an overwhelming feeling of being watched and that we weren't welcome.
We walked towards the tower. Ryan climbed up the rocks to the steps, there was a large metal bar to prevent people entering and a sign warning against climbing the tower. Ryan took a look up the tower, you could maybe climb the steps up to the first or second window then the steps stopped. Harry saw a light moving in the field about 10 metres or so ahead of us, again there was no one there, was this something paranormal? I decided to climb the steps into the tower, I had every intention of taking my digital camera but gave it to Ryan to hold. There was something in there, we all knew it and if I had to get out of there in a hurry I didn't want my camera hindering my speedy exit. There was a massive cold draft just in the entrance to the tower, it wasn't a particularly cold or windy evening so I couldn't explain this. I put my foot on the first step and slowly headed up. I reached the third step and as I was just about to put my foot on the fourth step when there was a shuffling noise at the top of the tower and as I looked up there was a banging noise coming down the tower towards me. It sounded like a large brick being thrown down the tower and bouncing off the walls as it came down. I shouted to Ryan who was blocking my exit "There's something there!" and rushed out expecting a huge rock to come crashing down behind me, I could easily have fallen over and down the large drop just outside the tower entrance but I wasn't worried about that I just had to get out. They had both heard what I had heard inside the tower and we stood still, now a good five metres or so away from the tower, scouring the area with our torches. The atmosphere was incredibly oppressive. I thought I saw a dark shadow move into the light just through the keep entrance and then back out of the light and at the same time Harry saw a shadow move just to the left of the tower. Harry was now visibly shaken. I've known Harry a good few years now and have never known him to be anywhere near this scared. We stayed about ten minutes longer and then Harry said he wanted to go, he just wanted to get away from the castle.
We walked towards the tower. Ryan climbed up the rocks to the steps, there was a large metal bar to prevent people entering and a sign warning against climbing the tower. Ryan took a look up the tower, you could maybe climb the steps up to the first or second window then the steps stopped. Harry saw a light moving in the field about 10 metres or so ahead of us, again there was no one there, was this something paranormal? I decided to climb the steps into the tower, I had every intention of taking my digital camera but gave it to Ryan to hold. There was something in there, we all knew it and if I had to get out of there in a hurry I didn't want my camera hindering my speedy exit. There was a massive cold draft just in the entrance to the tower, it wasn't a particularly cold or windy evening so I couldn't explain this. I put my foot on the first step and slowly headed up. I reached the third step and as I was just about to put my foot on the fourth step when there was a shuffling noise at the top of the tower and as I looked up there was a banging noise coming down the tower towards me. It sounded like a large brick being thrown down the tower and bouncing off the walls as it came down. I shouted to Ryan who was blocking my exit "There's something there!" and rushed out expecting a huge rock to come crashing down behind me, I could easily have fallen over and down the large drop just outside the tower entrance but I wasn't worried about that I just had to get out. They had both heard what I had heard inside the tower and we stood still, now a good five metres or so away from the tower, scouring the area with our torches. The atmosphere was incredibly oppressive. I thought I saw a dark shadow move into the light just through the keep entrance and then back out of the light and at the same time Harry saw a shadow move just to the left of the tower. Harry was now visibly shaken. I've known Harry a good few years now and have never known him to be anywhere near this scared. We stayed about ten minutes longer and then Harry said he wanted to go, he just wanted to get away from the castle.
We walked away from the castle, we all kept checking behind us as we all had a feeling that we were being followed. We all agreed that we had to return to this castle in the near future as it was obvious that there was something here not of this world. We walked towards the car and as we got a little way from the castle the atmosphere lifted, we all felt fine and knew it was over. For tonight.
Conclusion
We went to Edlingham not knowing what to expect as no one has investigated the location before, however, this was by far the most eventful investigation I have carried out to date. Did I see a ghost? Well I thought I had, retrospectively it may have been my imagination playing tricks as I had just had a bit of a scare and my heart was racing, so since I can’t be sure I’ll assume it was my imagination and hope I get more solid proof next time I’m here . Harry saw two black shadows and a strange light.
I have no doubt that there is something here, whatever is here was either trying to scare us away or was maybe trying to let us know that spirit exists. Edlingham Castle proved to be well worth a visit and I will be back to, again, face whatever it is that resides here.
I have no doubt that there is something here, whatever is here was either trying to scare us away or was maybe trying to let us know that spirit exists. Edlingham Castle proved to be well worth a visit and I will be back to, again, face whatever it is that resides here.
