A grant of £218,000 has been awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund to the North Pennines Heritage Trust for Historic Dilston. This exciting news means that the long awaited Phase 2 programme of work scheduled for the site can now be carried out on the land adjacent to Dilston Castle, leased to the Trust by the Allendale Estates.
The programme of work is scheduled to begin in the Spring of 2008 and will run throughout the year. Once completed, visitors will be able to access parts of the site not previously open to the public, thereby gaining a better understanding of Dilston's early development as a fortified settlement on the Devil's Water. This will make a visit to Dilston Castle and Chapel, which opened to the public in 2003 (having been restored by the Trust in Phase 1 of the project, with grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage), a much more meaningful experience.
The recent grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund will ensure the long-term survival of a number of other historic features on the Dilston Castle site. This includes the elegant early 17th-century Lord's Bridge spanning the Devil's Water and the remains of an extensive Jacobean range of buildings with cobbled flooring that stood close to Dilston Castle. The excavation of these buildings began in the summer of 2007, during a Field School run by North Pennines Archaeology Ltd, in which around sixty volunteers (including students and local people) took part.
The quality and extent of the remains uncovered in the excavation proved to be of great significance, providing evidence of at least three phases of building, going back to medieval times. It is thought that in its later use, the building may have been a stable block or brew house for Dilston Hall, a Jacobean manor house, built by Sir Edward Radcliffe, in 1622. Amongst the finds have been pieces of 17th and 18th-century pottery, moulded stones and plaster, lead window cames, musket balls, a Charles ll half penny and masses of roof tiles. The Heritage Lottery grant means that the archaeological work can continue in 2008, when another Field School will take place.
The award will enable a fallen stairway, leading up to a turret in Dilston Castle, to be restored, from where a panoramic view across the Tyne Valley can be seen and the defensive nature of the site becomes immediately apparent. Meanwhile, the exposure of the foundations of the 'old hall' that once stood alongside Dilston Castle - a 15th-century tower house - will enable visitors to understand more clearly the early history of the site, the recorded history of which dates to the beginning of the 12th century.
The acquisition, by the North Pennines Heritage Trust, of a portion of the pasture field, to the east of Dilston Castle, means that part of the foundations of the demolished Dilston Hall can also be exposed. Prior to the building of the mansion, the pasture field was the site of the medieval township of Dyvelston, which remained a thriving community up until Elizabethan times. Earthworks of the settlement can be traced in the pasture field, further to the east. Interpretation boards will help to illustrate how this early settlement was eventually replaced by Dilston Hall and transformed into a grand country estate.
An innovative scheme, planned for Dilston Castle, entails the design of a removable canopy, which can be erected, when needed, over the first floor of the ruin. This will greatly enhance the use of the site and its picturesque setting by providing shelter in wet or inclement weather. In the first instant, this will create much better facilities for school parties taking part in the popular workshops run regularly by the Education Service of the North Pennines Heritage Trust. The new facility will also enable a whole range of functions to take place in the castle, such as summer banquets and a variety of other social, educational and arts events.
The most urgent work in the Phase 2 programme relates to the beautiful area beside the Devil's Water, where a remaining stretch of ornamental walling - a surviving feature of the riverside gardens of the demolished Dilston Hall - still stands alongside Lord's Bridge. Vital structural work needs to be carried out to the bridge and retaining walling - the latter being in imminent danger of collapsing due to invasive roots of overhanging trees. Both the bridge and walling date to the early 17th century and are shown in an engraving of the mansion, published in 1766.
The engraving shows Dilston Hall in its heyday, when it was transformed from a Jacobean manor house into a grand Palladian-style mansion. Dilston Hall, which had fountain courts, beautiful gardens, orchards and deer parks, fell into disrepair when the family were forced into exile after the execution of James Radcliffe, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater, following his involvement in the Jacobite Rising of 1715. The romantic and melancholy story of the 'Bonny Earl of Dilston Hall' is widely known and still dominates the public perception of the site.
The Heritage Lottery grant for Historic Dilston means that this ancient site, which for many years lay neglected and unknown, can now be conserved and maintained for future generations to enjoy. It is anticipated that a particular attraction for visitors will be the walk down the wooded escarpment to the Devil's Water, a tributary of the River Tyne, from which Dilston (Dyvelston) takes its name. Meanwhile, the recent exciting archaeological discoveries suggest there is still much at Dilston yet to be found. North Pennines Archaeology will be running a Field School again this summer and anyone interested in taking part is invited to get in touch.
Dr Keith Bartlett, Regional Manager for the Heritage Lottery Fund, commented: "It's really good to see this restoration work at Dilston in progress. The second programme of work will ensure these important historic remains are made much more accessible to visitors and the local community whilst also providing excellent educational facilities in the area."
During 2008, Dilston Castle and Chapel will open to the public, as usual, from the beginning of May to the end of September, but for health and safety reasons there will be some restrictions in place whilst work in going on. There will be opportunities throughout the year to view the excavation work in progress, but the general public will not be allowed down to the Devil's Water until the Phase 2 work is completed.
Information about the North Pennines Archaeology Field School can be accessed via www.nparchaeology.co.uk tel. 01434 382094. Alternatively, you can be part of what is going on by joining the Friends of Historic Dilston, who run an active programme of events on the site and support the North Pennines Heritage Trust in a number of ways: www.friendsofhistoricdilston.co.uk tel. 01661 844157.
