140 REPORT OF MEETINGS FOR 1907 



many of its ruined portions were particularly described. 

 Enough of walls and towers remains to furnish an idea of 

 the palatial character of the whole, and to demonstrate the 

 abundance of material wealth which must have been at the 

 disposal of its successive owners. 



The retirement of Ceolwulf to the monastery of St. Cuthbert, 

 and the fashion thereby sot of frequenting places of retreat 

 in place of enduring the hardships of military service, would 

 naturally deal a death-blow to many a scheme of defensive 

 action against the inroads of the Danes, or of 

 Historical still more intimate neighbours; and perhaps 

 Notes. the conviction that such a practice would affect 



disastrously the prospect of withstanding the 

 invader, may have sufficed to justify his successor in 

 resuming what had been given to the church, though 

 it did not acquit him of the charge of sacrilege preferred 

 against him by the men of his own generation. Accordingly 

 King Osbert seized Wark worth, and in so doing initiated a 

 practice in which powerful barons followed suit, using their 

 possessions, so acquired, as so many convenient counters. In this 

 connection may be mentioned the Merlays, who at the close 

 of the nth century gave Morwick in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood to Durham ; and who, if they were also owners of 

 Warkworth, may have been as ready as others to barter 

 it, though actually restrained from doing so through its 

 forfeiture in consequence of their participation in the 

 rebellion of Robert de Mowbray. It is stated also in an 

 abstract of 1673 that Warkworth "of ancient tyme was of 

 the possessions of one Robert Grenville, and in the tyme of 

 King Henry the First came to the prince's hands by eschete."* 



It would appear, therefore, that for one reason or another 

 the lands of Warkworth repeatedly changed hands before any 

 mention is made of their having been fortified. In the reign 

 of Henry II., however, the castle and manor of " Werkewrde " 

 were given to Roger, son of Richard fitz Eustace, constable 

 of Chester, and in 1199 they were confirmed by King John 

 to his heir, Robert fitz Roger, along with other grants 



* Dake of Northumberland's MBS. History of Northamberland, Vol, 

 v„ p. 20, 



