Dilston Castle is a fortified tower house, built by Sir William Claxton in the mid-fifteenth century, at a time when Border raiding was a constant threat. It is first referred to in a deed drawn up by his son Sir Robert Claxton in 1464. Archaeological evidence suggests that an earlier manor house or castle, belonging to the lords of Dyvelston and Tyndale, stood on the same spot.

Earthworks of the medieval village of Dyvelston can be traced in the pasture field to the east of the tower house. In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, the Radcliffe Family transformed the tower house into a more comfortable Elizabethan/Jacobean style of dwelling, the gateway of which stands today. The following century it was incorporated in Dilston Hall, a palatial mansion owned by James Radcliffe, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater. Dilston Hall was demolished in 1768.

Dilston Chapel

Dilston Chapel is a rare example of a Post-Reformation recusant chapel, built c.1616, allegedly with money raised for financing the Gunpowder Plot. It was designed specifically for Roman Catholic worship, at a time when this was against the law. Sir Francis Radcliffe, who owned the manor at the time, was arrested on suspicion of complicity in the plot, whilst Guy Fawkes is said to have been at Dilston shortly beforehand.

A Roman gravestone, carved with the standing figure of a woman, is one of several ancient stones built into the walls of the chapel. It is probable that the person depicted on this stone was buried alongside the Roman road, Dere Street, which crossed Dilston Haugh nearby.

The Radcliffes of Dilston

The ambitious Radcliffes, who owned the manor for two centuries, rose to become the wealthiest and most prominent Roman Catholic family in the north of England through marriage into the Royal House of Stuart. Everything was lost when James Radcliffe, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater, took up arms in support of his cousin Prince James Stuart, in the ill-fated Jacobite Rising of 1715. The Earl was found guilty of high treason, and beheaded on Tower Hill the following year. The untimely death on the scaffold of the kindly young nobleman served to inspire a succession of laments, biographies, historical novels and numerous legendary tales. Long after the demise of the Radcliffes of Dilston, stories of James, the 'Bonny Lord', lived on in local folklore.

The ‘Bonny Lord’ of Dilston Hall

Dilston is renowned for having been the home of James Radcliffe, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater - the most tragic and romantic figure in Northumbrian history. Set in beautiful wooded grounds and approached through an avenue of giant redwood trees, Dilston Castle and Chapel are the remaining features of the Earl’s, once magnificent, estate.

O Derwentwater’s a bonny lord,
And golden is his hair,
And glenting is his hawking e’e
With kind love dwelling there.

A Window on the Past

Two Summer Field Schools held at Historic Dilston in 2008-9, run by North Pennines Archaeology Ltd, provided valuable information about Dilston and its development over the centuries from a mediaeval settlement on the Devil’s Water to a magnificent country estate. The Friends of Historic Dilston assisted Principal Archaeologist Frank Giecco and his team on the dig, which attracted large numbers of volunteers of all ages, including international students, local people and others from further afield.

Work centred on an excavation over three distinct areas comprising the mediaeval hall, the Jacobean manor house and the service range of this building. The mediaeval hall (which stood to the north of Dilston Castle) may well have been the residence of the Lords of Dyvelston who held the barony from the late 11th to the early 14th century. The Jacobean manor house, Dilston Hall, built by the Radcliffes in 1622/3, and remodelled the following century, was demolished in 1768.

The excavation produced a huge assemblage of finds, which provide a great insight into the lavish lifestyle of the Radcliffe Family during the 17th and early-18th centuries. The finds, which cover every aspect of daily life at Dilston Hall and range from high status pottery to basic kitchenware, illustrate perfectly the wealth of Dilston in its heyday, opening a window on the past.

Over 1800 sherds of pottery were recovered ranging from maiolica imported from Italy, Chinese export porcelain and delftware from Holland, London and Bristol. Large quantities of high quality earthenware from the Staffordshire and Nottingham potteries were found, which included tankards, flagons, porrigers, bowls, saucers, plates and bedpans. The range and quality of the types of pottery found illustrate perfectly the wealth of Dilston in its heyday. The quantity of wine bottles reflect a high consumption of wine on the site, to be expected considering the wealth of the family and the amount of entertaining that would have occurred.

Other finds range from gunflints to large iron keys, coins, thimbles, lace-making weights together with clay tobacco pipes, bone dice and gaming counters. These artefacts paint a vivid picture of a day in the life of the Radcliffes with the men of the house gambling and ladies lace making. The discovery of a silver cufflink engraved with ‘CR’, lead to speculation that it may have belonged to Charles Radcliffe! Also creating great interest was a Charles l halfpenny - one of the many coins that were found, a considerable number being Scottish.

One of the most remarkable finds has been a London-made salt-glazed tankard dating back to the late 1600s, which has lain undamaged for over 300 years, protected by the silt which had collected from one of the drains leading from Dilston Hall. Some of the most decorative and well-preserved items found include the remains of a large charger, made in Staffordshire in the 17th century, and a claret jug of the same period. Other items, which were discovered broken into scores of tiny pieces, have been meticulously put-together by a local potter and are now on display at Historic Dilston.

 

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