120 ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS 



Southwards. On the death of the English king, Henry I. 

 in 1135, David of Scotland seized the newly built North- 

 umbrian strongholds of Norham, Alnwick and Wark, 

 and even the castle of Newcastle-on-Tyne, though he 

 failed to secure Bamburgh ; but in 1139 the earldom of 

 Northumberland (still separate, in name at least, from the 

 realm of England) was conferred on David's son, Henry ; 

 and ultimately even Bamburgh capitulated to the Scottish 

 king. It was now a mere toss up whether Northumber- 

 land was destined eventually to be a permanent annexe of 

 Scotland or of England, the chances seeming to lie with 

 the former country. On the death of Earl Henry in 1152, 

 the Northumbrian nobles did homage to his second son 

 William, whom King David had selected to fill the vacant 

 earldom. The English king, Henry II., however, stepped 

 in and saved the situation for England by assuming the 

 suzerainty of the Northern province, though it was not 

 until some forty years later that Northumberland was 

 actually incorporated as part of the English realm. From 

 this time the building of Border castles and towers, with 

 which both sides of the Tweed were eventually to bristle, 

 ma}' be said to have been begun. 



One of the first acts of Henry II. after his resumption of 

 the earldom was the building of Harbottle Castle, a strong-' 

 hold of great strategic importance on the middle March 

 between Northumberland and Roxburghshire. Of such 

 consequence was this castle considered to be, that the 

 work was carried out to a great extent both by Northum- 

 berland and the Palatinate of Durham. Several interesting 

 licences to crenellate were granted to owners of castles 

 and towers during the two following centuries, amongst 

 which along the Northern border were those of the 16th 

 July 1338 to William Heron for his mansion of Ford, 

 and of 3rd May 1341 to Robert de Manners for his mansion 

 of Etal; while in 1341, 1344, and 1345, Thomas de 

 Muschamps of Barmoor, Thomas de Heton of Chillingham, 

 and Robert de Haggerstone of Haggerstone, had licence to 

 crenellate or fortify their respective abodes. 



