Harbottle Castle

The village of Harbottle lies in Alwinton Parish, some 12.5km from Rothbury and 5km south of the Scottish Border. The castle occupies a central ridge on the broad valley floor of the River Coquet, and the modern village lies immediately south of the castle

The name Hirbottle was first recorded in the thirteenth century, but it is thought that it derives from the Ango-Saxon here-botl which means ‘army building’ and might refer to an earlier, pre-Norman structue on the site.

Harbottle Castle occupies a good defensive site on a plateau like ridge. It is bounded on its western and southern  sides by a steep sided and deep moat and on the north and east sides it is defended by naturally steep, riverside slopes. It towers over the major medieval highway into Scotland - Clennell Street, thus making it a point of strategic as well as tactical importance.

Main Components:

The castle consists of three main elements:

1. The Motte or castle mound
2. The East Bailey or enclosed courtyard
3. The West Bailey or enclosed courtyard

All are bounded by the outer curtain wall of the castle. The Motte is dominated by a stone Keep or Tower of various periods of construction, while the Bailey area is kidney shaped and divided into two by a wall running north/south that originally terminated in a tower at its northern end. At the southern end of this wall is a gateway-initially excavated in the 1930s by Newcastle architect and building historian Herbert Honeyman. There was an outer gate house at main eastern entrance in the eastern bailey.