Tarset Castle
(cf. Cathcart King 1983, 341-2, 371-2 n.261a; NCH XV (1940) 246-247; cf. figs. 25, 52, 75-76)
The manorial centre, termed the capital messuage in medieval documents, was located on a steep sided promontory above the Tarset Burn. The promontory is cut off by a deep ditch on its east and south sides and the west side may also have been scarped during construction. The south west corner of the site was truncated by the Border Counties Railway line, whilst the action of the Tarset Burn may have eroded away part of the north side during the intervening centuries.
The castle's history has traditionally been assumed to have begun in 1267 when a detailed licence to crenelate was issued to John Comyn (CalDocScot I, no. 2463; Cal. Pat. Rolls 178; discussed and reproduced by. Bates 1891, 7-8 n.30). However in 1244, more than twenty years previously, Hugh de Bolbec, sheriff of Northumberland was instructed to take into his keeping the 'castle of Tyreset', which the King of Scots would have delivered to him; its lord, Walter Comyn, was to be allowed to remove his stores, weapons etc. (Cal Close R. 1242-1247, 221; cf. Cathcart King 1983, 341; Harbottle & Newman 1973, 139 n. 9).
This was a period of tension between the two kingdoms and Henry III was evidently anxious to ensure that this strategically positioned fortress, close to the border, did not provide the Scots with an advance base if relations deteriorated into outright warfare. It also clearly demonstrates the limits of the Scottish king's autonomy in his liberty of Tynedale. When the King of England wished to exercise control there was no question at to who was the superior lord.
The apparent problem posed by these apparently conflicting records is easily resolved if it is assumed that the earlier record refers to an earth and timber 'ringwork' castle probably constructed by Richard Comyn when the family first acquired the manor in the 12th century.
Ringworks, which simply comprise a massively ditched and embanked enclosure, are more common in North Tynedale and Redesdale than the better known type of motte-and-bailey castles, with both the Mote Hill at Wark and Warden Castle adopting this form. Even the earthwork castle at Elsdon - traditionally thought of as a motte-and-bailey - has been re-evaluated more recently and shown to be a ringwork and bailey (Cathcart King & Alcock 1969, 119). There is now no clear trace of earthen ramparts at Tarset and it is possible these were levelled to create a more elevated platform when the castle was rebuilt in stone in 1267, or perhaps dispensed with altogether. Given the scale of the ditch, they were scarcely necessary in any case.
The licence to crenelate, coupled with the results of various antiquarian investigations, suggest that the stone castle built in 1267 was a rectangular hall-house, or more correctly hall-tower, probably of two storeys, with turrets at each corner of the range (Pevsner et al. 2002, 61-2, 582), This was typical of the kind of manorial residence being erected by the Northumbrian gentry at this time. The licence allowing John Comyn to enclose and crenelate his chamber (camera) specifically states that it was to fortified in the same manner as the existing chamber of Adam de Gesemuth (Jesmond), one end of which, known as 'King John's Palace', can still be seen in Heaton Park in Newcastle.
The castle disappears from view after the early 14th century. It is likely that it suffered as the as the manor of Tarset was split into two parts and passed repeatedly from one short term holder to another. However it reappears in the early 16th century when its potential as a stronghold to 'bridle Tynedale' was recognised by the royal authorities. It was recommended for a garrison in 1522 (LP Hen VIII iii, no. 1986) and in 1523 Sir Ralph Fenwick, the Keeper of Tynedale, was stationed there with 80 men to overawe 'the Tynedale thieves'.
He was driven out in the following year by William Charlton of Bellingham and 200 North Tynedale men, but returned with a new garrison of 100 men in 1525, only for the castle to be recaptured by an alliance of Tynedale men and 400 Scots and burnt (NCH XV (1940), 246-7). The Crown was not prepared to lavish sufficient resources on the castle to make it a secure stronghold and it was still derelict when Sir Robert Bowes and Sir Ralph Ellerker conducted their survey of border defences, in 1541 (cf. Bates 1891, 48-9).
Demesne Fields
The 1326-29 Comyn IPMs, cited above, record a combined total of 80 acres of demesne arable at Tarset, most of which was then uncultivated for lack of tenants. This may have been distributed in two separate blocks of 38 and 42 acres since the 42-acre parcel was omitted from the first inquisition.
The Park
A park is also listed at Tarset by the inquisitions. This lay a little to the east of the castle, where the element 'park' figures in several placenames - Park Cottage, Park Hill and Park Bank (the last being the name of the field between Park Cottage the castle shown on a Bell estate map of 1837: NRO ZHE 43-23). Hence the general location of the park is clear even if its outline cannot now be traced.
The Mill
Another virtually indispensable element of manorial lordship, a mill, is listed repeatedly in the inquisitions. In 1326 to have formerly been worth £30 per annum, 'but now nothing because it lies broken and out of order.' Reference in the Iter of Wark to 'the fulling mill of Tarset' (molendinum fullonicum de Tyrset), where Richard the Fuller (Ricardus le Fulur) suffered a burglary in 1279 (Hartshorne 1858, liii), reveals that this mill was associated with the processing of cloth rather than grain, once again underlining the importance of livestock and their products to the economy of the upland manor. The mill's precise location, presumably either on the Tarset Burn or North Tyne, cannot be identified. It may even have lain on the site of the present Tarset Hall.