Liberties : Conclusions

In seeking to explain 13th century pattern, two observations may be pertinent. Firstly, the Umfravilles did not attempt to administer the entire liberty from Harbottle alone, in the 13th century and thereafter. A subsidiary manorial centre, with a capital messuage (probably a two storey hall house typical of the region), was retained in Redesdale, overseeing the Umfraville holdings in that valley. However this was located not at Elsdon, but at Otterburn to the west, in the main valley.

Secondly, there is evidence to suggest the Umfravilles were attracted by the greater fertility of Coquetdale from the beginning of their tenure. They appear to have held the ten townships in Coquetdale and the Breamish Valley from the reign of Henry I.

Given these factors two hypotheses can be advanced to explain the demise of Elsdon. It is possible that the size of the Umfraville lordship, including the adjoining Coquetdale and Breamish valley townships in the barony of Alnwick, rapidly led to the realisation that it was inconvenient to administer the liberty and its appendages from a single centre.

Consequently Elsdon was replaced by two manorial sites, each more centrally located in its respective valley, Harbottle in upper Coquetdale and Otterburn in Redesdale.

Alternatively it is conceivable that there were intitially two timber and earthwork castles, one to protect each valley. In this case Elsdon was abandoned, perhaps in the late 12th-early 13th century under Richard de Umfraville, because the liberty did not provide sufficient resources to support the reconstruction in stone and maintenance of two castles.

It is noteworthy that Richard undertook major construction work at Harbottle c. 1220. In either case, it is likely that the Umfravilles were influenced by the greater fertility of the more northerly valley, in making Harbottle the principal focus of their liberty, in the same way that Coquetdale’s upland pastures attracted greater interest from the monastic houses than did those of Redesdale. Thus, although reasons of state may not have been irrelevant in the final choice of the seat of the lordship and the construction of the castle at Harbottle, one may suspect that a decisive factor was the administrative and economic requirements of the Umfraville barons, themselves.