Windfall for bridge over devil’s water

Jan 16 2008 by Tony Henderson, The Journal

ONE of the most romantic historic sites in the North-East is to be further enhanced, thanks to a cash boost.

A grant of £218,000 has been awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund to the North Pennines Heritage Trust for its Historic Dilston site, near Corbridge in Northumberland.

The site includes Dilston Castle and chapel, and the scenic Lord’s Bridge over the Devil’s Water, a tributary of the Tyne.

The grant will finance a new programme of work from March, which will run throughout the year. Once completed, visitors will be able to access parts of the site not previously open to the public and will gain a better understanding of Dilston’s early development as a fortified settlement.

The now demolished Dilston Hall was the home of James Radcliffe, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater, who was executed in 1716 for his role in leading the 1715 Jacobite rebellion in Northumberland.

Dilston Castle and Chapel opened to the public in 2003 having been restored by the Trust in phase one of the project.

The new grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund will ensure the long-term survival of features such as the elegant early 17th Century Lord’s Bridge and the remains of an extensive Jacobean range of buildings that stood near Dilston Castle.

Excavation of these buildings began last summer during a field school run by North Pennines Archaeology Ltd.

The quality and extent of the remains uncovered in the excavation proved to be of great significance, providing evidence of at least three phases of building, going back to medieval times. It is thought that in its later use, the building may have been a stable block or brew house for Dilston Hall, a Jacobean manor house built by Sir Edward Radcliffe, in 1622.

The grant means that the archaeological work can continue this year and that a fallen stairway, leading up to a turret in Dilston Castle, will be restored, offering a panoramic view across the Tyne Valley.

The exposure of the foundations of the old hall that once stood alongside Dilston Castle – a 15th Century tower house – will enable visitors to understand more clearly the early history of the site, the recorded history of which dates to the beginning of the 12th Century.

A new scheme for Dilston Castle is a removable canopy, which can be erected, when needed, over the first floor of the ruin, allowing functions to take place.

The most urgent work involves the picturesque area beside the Devil’s Water, where a remaining stretch of ornamental walling – a surviving feature of the riverside gardens of the demolished Dilston Hall – still stands alongside Lord’s Bridge.

Vital structural work needs to be carried out to the bridge and retaining walling.

Dilston Castle and Chapel will open to the public from the beginning of May to the end of September.