Langley Castle

Ground plan of the castle from 1853; A - entrance; B - vaulted chamber; C - garderobe tower; F - fireplaces

It was built in the middle of the 14th century by Sir Thomas de Lucy as a great H plan H-shaped tower of four storeys. Before this the site was the seat of the Barons of Tynedale in the 12th century, from whom descend the Tyndall family. It was attacked and severely damaged in 1405 by the forces of Henry IV in the campaign against the Percys and Archbishop Scrope. It remained as a ruin until it was bought and restored by a local historian, Cadwallader Bates, in 1882. Bates died in 1902 and his wife Josephine continued the restoration. After she died in 1932 the building remained empty until it was used as a barracks in the Second World War, following which it was used as a girls' school. In the Eighties It was bought by the Robb family. In 1986, it was bought by Dr Stuart Madnick, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,who converted it into a luxury hotel. Langley Castle is set in a woodland estate of 10 acres (40,000 m²). One of the more remarkable features of the building is the south-west tower, which is occupied by no fewer than 12 garderobes, four to each floor.

• Castles in Great Britain and Ireland
• List of castles in England

• Fry, Plantagenet Somerset (1980). The David & Charles Book of Castles. David & Charles. p. 251. ISBN 0-7153-7976-3.
• Hodgson, John (1840). A History of Northumberland. Pt2 Vol 3. pp. 367–8.