Free visit
We found this castle by chance, taking a detour from our expected route and passing through the village of Norham. The visit is free, the grounds are still in good condition, and it is right in the center of the village. Today it is in ruins but historically the castle was hugely important to the city of Durham, one of the most important cities in the north of England during the Middle Ages. The bishop of Durham built it on the banks of the River Tweed, a natural border with Scotland. The castle was besieged 9 times by Scottish soldiers and was conquered in 4 of the sieges. In the sixteenth century, the castle was finally taken by the English who modernized it, but after the Act of Union in the seventeenth century it was gradually abandoned because there was no need of a defensive fortress in the area.
