Ogle, Northumberland

Ogle Castle is a former fortified manor house and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Grade I listed building. The moated site on the bank of the Ogle Burn presents the remains of a medieval tower incorporated into a 16th-century manor. Licence to crenellate the manor was granted to Robert Ogle in 1341. William the Conqueror granted a deed to Humphrey de Hoggell (Ogle) to enjoy all the liberties and royalties of his manor after the conquest.[1] The Ogle family held the estate from before the Norman Conquest until 1597 when it passed by marriage to the Cavendish family and later to Hollis.

Kirkley Hall, a 17th-century historic country mansion and Grade II listed building situated on the bank of the River Blyth, is now a Horticultural and Agricultural training centre.

The manor of Kirkley was granted to the de Eure family in 1267 and Sir William Eure was recorded as in occupation of a tower house there in 1415. In the early 17th century the manor came into the ownership of the Ogle family and in 1632 Cuthbert Ogle built a new manor house close to the site of the old house. Substantial alterations were made to the structure in 1764 by Rev Newton Ogle (1726–1804), Dean of Winchester Cathedral, who also in 1788 erected an obelisk in the grounds commemorating the accession of William III and Mary II in 1689. The house was substantially rebuilt by Rev John Saville Ogle in about 1832.

The Ogles disposed of their Kirkley estates in 1922. The Hall which passed to Sir William Noble (later Lord Kirkley) was damaged by fire in 1929 and largely rebuilt by him on a somewhat reduced scale. In 1946 the estate was acquired by the Northumberland County Council and in 1951 Kirkley Hall Farm Institute was established. In 1999 the estate became the land studies campus of Northumberland College.

This unusual place name can be most plausibly explained as being derived from the Old English meaning Ocga's hill.[2] Ogle is less likely to have been derived from Cumbric huchel, 'high', typically indicating an elevated area of land.[3]

Notable members of the Ogle family connected with Kirkley include:

• Chaloner Ogle (1681–1750), Admiral (Royal Navy)
• Sir Chaloner Ogle, 1st Baronet (1726–1816), Admiral (Royal Navy)

• Kirkley Hall
• Ogle Castle
• Baron Ogle
• Ogle Baronets

• A History of Northumberland (1929) Miss MH Dodds. Vol XII pp 493–509. Kirkley and Ogles of Kirkley.
• Keys to the Past. Kirkley Hall
• Ogle: a Northumbrian Village Past & Present (2001), Ogle Millennium Group, 64pp.