296 ON THE HISTORY AND ARCHITECTURE OF 



As the district belonged to the Scottish kings until the end of 

 the thirteenth century, it would be useless to expect any record 

 of the first erection of the old tower of Chipchase Castle ;* but 

 from the architectural features, we arrive at the age with some 

 approach to certainty, and know that it was probably built by 

 Peter or Robert de Insula in the time of Edward I., some years 

 before the close of his reign in 1 307. The Rev. C. H. Hartshorne, 

 in his " Feudal and Military Antiquities of Northumberland and 

 the Scottish Borders,"! says, " The history of this charmingly- 

 placed structure appears to have been pretty well made out. 

 Originally it belonged to Odonel de Umframville (Lord of 

 Prudhoe). Gilbert, the Flower of the North, held it in capite'l 

 amongst other possessions from the Crown, and Peter de Insula 

 held it under him, with "Withill, for the third part of a knight's 

 fee. It must have been either this person, or his son Robert, 

 who built the castle, as Robert was in possession 2 Edw. I." 

 (1274). 



The name of Chipchase itself takes us, however, back to much 

 more ancient times, when a village of Chipchase already existed 

 on the south side of the present park, close to the bridge that 

 leads to the mill and the ancient ford of the river. Scarcely a 

 vestige now remains of it, but we can trace the foundations of 

 two or three dwellings on each side of the hollow track-way. 

 The ancient village of Chipchase was, no doubt, much earlier 

 than the great Pele -tower, and would be occupied in Saxon 

 times. Its name is derived directly from the Old-English word 



* Tynedale was granted to the brother of Malcolm, King of Scotland, in the time of 

 Henry II. On Malcolm's death it became united to the Crown of Scotland, and so con- 

 tinued till the death of Alexander III. in 1286, when it reverted to the English Crown. 

 The Scottish Judges Itinerant held their assize on the Mote Hill of Wark in 1279, and the 

 English Judges in 1287. 



t Chap. II , p. 78. See also " Testa de Nevill/' " Chipohes," Hodgson's Hist, of Northd., 

 Vol. I., Part iii., p. 206. 



t " In chief," or directly from the King. These powerful barons had almost as many 

 modes of spelling their surname as they possessed manors, owing perhaps to the Norman 

 French pronunciation of the second syllable. " Umfraville," or " Umfreville" seems to 

 have been the most usual form, though seven other modes occur in a cursory perusal of 

 some ancient records. 



