Welcome
to the Friends of Historic Dilston Home Page
Welcome to the Friends of Historic Dilston
Home Page. We are a new organisation, launched 24
February 2007, to promote awareness of Dilston
Castle and Chapel, in Northumberland, and run
fund-raising events on the site, which is situated
approximately one and a half miles south west of
Corbridge. By joining the
Friends you can support Historic Dilston in a number
of ways. You can simply attend our programme
of talks and events or you may wish to play a more
active role, working as a guide, running a particular
activity or generally helping around the site. One
of the benefits of becoming a Friend is that you
will have free access to Historic Dilston whenever
the site is open.
NEWS
UPDATE Heritage Lottery Grant Awarded to Historic Dilston
...read the full article...
The Friends of Historic Dilston
has been set up to support the North Pennines Heritage
Trust, the owners of the historic site, who restored Dilston
Castle and Chapel in 2002-3, with grants from the Heritage
Lottery Fund and English Heritage. The restoration of
the two scheduled ancient monuments was made possible
through a partnership with MENCAP who have a college in
the same grounds. Friends will be working closely with
the staff and students from Dilston College, who run a
café for visitors and help man the site during the week.
At weekends the site is manned by an attendant from Historic
Dilston, backed by volunteers.
Dilston’s beautiful setting, the picturesque backdrop
of the castle and the fine acoustics of the chapel make
the site ideal for a range of activities and events. In
recent years events have included open-air dramas, historical
re-enactments, a flower festival, painting and drawing
days, storytelling, paranormal investigations, poetry
readings and music in the chapel.
Historic
Dilston
Dilston Castle and Chapel opened to the public in June
2003, following the completion of Phase One of an ongoing
project, aimed at preserving the whole of this ancient
site, which takes its name from the Devil's Water, a tributary
of the River Tyne. Earthworks of the medieval settlement
of Dyvelston were investigated during the archaeological
work that took place at the time of the restoration of
the castle and chapel.
Phase Two of the project is about to get underway and
involves archaeological and conservation work on the land
beyond Dilston Castle – the area stretching down
to the Devil’s Water. This includes repairs to the
elegant 17th-century Lord’s Bridge and ornamental
garden walling of the grand mansion that belonged to James
Radcliffe, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater, demolished in 1768.
A future aim of the Friends is to restore the riverside
gardens to their former glory.
From June until the end of
August, North Pennines
Archaeology Limited is running a Summer
School at Dilston, primarily to investigate the remains
of the service block of a Jacobean manor house that was added
to Dilston Castle c.1616. Friends are invited to take part in
the dig or come along to watch the work in progress. A video
of the archaeological and restoration work carried out at Dilston
in 2002-3 will be shown during this period.
Please use
the highlighted links as well as the top menu to navigate through
this website. We hope you enjoy the site and look forward to
seeing you at a Friends of Historic Dilston Event!
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