4g 



Warkworth — its Castle, Herjnitage, and Church. By the 

 Rev. J. W. Dunn, Vicar of Warkworth.* 



When I undertook, at the request of our excellent Secretary, 

 to provide a paper upon Warkworth for this day, I little 

 calculated how much there was to learn upon the subject 

 which must of necessity be learnt, and how much there was 

 to tell which in justice and of necessity must be told. Above 

 all, I fear I did not sufficiently consider how many members 

 of our club there would be present, so much more able than 

 myself to do justice to so interesting and comprehensive a 

 theme. 



I throw myself, therefore, in the beginning upon your kind 

 forbearance, and, if I cannot promise much of profit and in- 

 struction, I will at all events do my endeavour not to weary 

 you with an excessive dryness of unnecessary detail. 



The approach to Warkworth from the north is singularly 

 striking and attractive, and indeed, its very first view pre- 

 pares the traveller for the antiquarian revel which awaits his 

 more intimate acquaintance with that ancient vill. Tak- 

 ing his stand near the centre of a picturesque and many- 

 angled bridge, which was rebuilt in 1379, and where in 

 former days there stood a pillar f which bore the arms of 

 the noble house of Percy, he is at once struck with the pecu- 

 liar situation of the place. He will observe that it is all but 

 surrounded by its romantic river. To it the glowing lan- 

 guage of an immortal German fiction might be aptly, with- 

 out one change, applied : — " It seems as though the promon- 

 tory, enamoured, strives with all its force to penetrate into 

 the beautifully blue limpid stream, while on the other hand, 

 the water, attracted by mutual passion, endeavours to encircle 

 in its embrace the lovely spot, with its undulating grass, and 

 flowers, its waving trees and cool recesses." 



The bridge at its southern extremity has been protected 

 by an ancient tower, the ruins of which still remain, and 

 which, when the insular position of Warkworth is considered, 

 must have afibrded no small or mean defence in the stirring 

 times of old. Even at a date so comparatively recent as the 

 year 1567, Clarkson, in his Survey, tells us of '^a little 

 towre buylded on th' ende of the sayde bridge, where a pare 

 of gates ys hanged : and now the sayd towre ys without roof 



* The principal notes accompanying this Paper are due to the research and 

 kindness of my friend, W. H. D. Longstafte , Esq. 



f The remains of this pillar are preserved in the castle yard. 



