The Warkworth Castle report~part 1 B&W

Posted in B&W, castles & ruins, Fuji, History, photography, uncategorisedTagged , , , , , ,

I had a fab day out with Sophie yesterday, we went to Warkworth and visited the castle, the Hermitage, the village and also stopped off at Amble Marina on the way home. Took loads of photo’s with the Fuji-XT1 and as I took loads I’m going to drip feed the blog as 80 odd shots might be too much all at once :). Firstly a mini history of the castle.. Warkworth Castle is a ruined medieval building in the town of Warkworth. It occupies a loop of the River Croquet less than a mile from England’s north-east coast. When the castle was founded is uncertain: traditionally its construction has been ascribed to Prince Henry of Scotland in the mid-12th century, but it may have been built by King Henry II of England when he took control of England’s northern counties. Warkworth Castle was first documented in a charter of 1157–1164 when Henry II granted it to Roger fitz Richard. The timber castle was considered “feeble”, and was left undefended when the Scots invaded in 1173. Roger’s son Robert inherited and improved the castle. Robert was a favourite of King John, and hosted him at Warkworth Castle in 1213. The castle remained in the family line, with periods of guardianship when heirs were too young to control their estates. King Edward 1st stayed overnight in 1292 and John de Clavering, descendant of Roger fitz Richard, made the Crown his inheritor. With the outbreak of the Anglo-Scottish wars, Edward II invested in castles including Warkworth where he funded the strengthening of the garrison in 1319. Twice in 1327 the Scots besieged the castle without success. John de Clavering died in 1332 and his widow in 1345, at which point Henry de Percy, 2nd Baron Percy took control of Warkworth Castle. Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland added the imposing keep overlooking the village of Warkworth in the late 14th century. The 4th Earl remodelled the buildings in the bailey and began the construction of a church within the castle, but work on the latter was abandoned after his death. Though Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland supported Parliament during the English Civil War, the castle was damaged during the conflict. The last Percy earl died in 1670. In the mid-18th century the castle found its way into the hands of Hugh Smithson who married the indirect Percy Heiress. He adopted the name “Percy” and founded the dynasty of the Dukes of Northumberland, through whom possession of the castle descended. In the late 19th century, the dukes refurbished Warkworth Castle and Anthony Salvin was commissioned to restore the keep. Alan Percy, 8th Duke of Northumberland gave custody of the castle to the Office of Works in 1922. Since 1984 English Heritage has cared for the site, which is a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. That’s from wiki, lots of Dukes and Earls, The Percy family are well known in Northumberland with an amazing history ~ The Smithsonian Institute in USA would not exist without them, but that’s a different story. Anyway, I took some shots and converted some to black & white using Nik Silver FX which is a cool processing programme. I don’t do a lot of  B&W as I love colour, but sometimes you have to try something different, so here are the ones I did preceded by a map of the grounds wg-3

The Castle
The Castle
The Lion Tower
The Lion Tower
Grey Mare's Tail Tower
Grey Mare’s Tail Tower
The Lion Tower details
The Lion Tower details

I thought the lion was a sheep when I first saw it 🙂

Not sure what these were for
Not sure what these were for
Going up
Going up
doorways
doorways
chimney & webs
chimney & webs
fireplace, needed to big to heat this place!
fireplace, needed to be so big to heat this place!
lost keys
lost keys
which way?
which way?
mini canons
mini canons
a bigger mini canon
a bigger mini canon
arches
arches
this is one of the latteral aspects (right hand side of main castle shot).
rear aspect

That’s part one done, I quite like how the B&W worked out, without the distraction of colour it’s easy to focus on the textures and I think it lends itself well, so next time will be some more of the castle but in glorious technicolour 🙂

well, couldn't resist.
well, couldn’t resist.

I’m off to stay in York for a couple of days tomorrow, very exciting, and no doubt will have even more photo’s, this holiday should keep me in blog posts for a year! laters gaters 😉

23 thoughts on “The Warkworth Castle report~part 1 B&W”

      2. oh Fraggy, if we ever make over the pond…will you take us to this place? how amazing.. and those keys… how kool was that!!! perfect set of B&W the detail is awesome. can you even imagine back in the day walking around that place? those stairs alone would have killed me:)) as much as i love looking at these over and over again, i am especially drawn to the last one… i think it might be my fav!!… at least till you post again ….lol. have a wonderful time on the rest of your holiday.xxxx

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  5. I think the “Castle” and the “Lion Tower” are gorgeous. If you did they series with the monochrome film simulation of your X-T1 then the results are stunning. This is a fabulous report – interesting information mixed with cool black and white images. Thanks for sharing.

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  8. Pingback: The Warkworth Castle report~part 2 colour edition. | fragglerocking

  10. I find black and white photos very impressive.

    Well you found where someone left their keys 🔑.

    That lion 🦁 must have been a lion 🦁 in sheep’s 🐑 clothing. He didn’t want wolves getting all the glory for practicing subterfuge.

    Those Percys of Northumberland- was Henry Hotspur Percy of Shakespearean fame from King Henry IV Part I related to them?

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