Wallington Hall cellars on show to public for one day only

Jul 15 2010 by David Black, The Journal

CENTURIES-old cellars beneath a Northumberland stately home are being opened up to give visitors a unique flavour of life in the times of the feared Border Reivers.

The labyrinth of underground rooms below Wallington Hall was originally part of a heavily-fortified pele tower, which stood on the site 700 years ago when the local Fenwick family was part of the Reiver clans.

The ground floor of the tower - where the Fenwicks held court and up to 500 heavily armoured horsemen would muster before galloping out on their Border raids - is now buried under the country house which was built in 1688.

Used as cellars by generations of Wallington's owners, the thick stone walls, vaulted ceilings, stone flagged floors and narrow windows, passageways and doorways have been perfectly preserved.

On Saturday - as part of this year's Festival of British Archaeology - they will be opened up for one day only so that people can literally step back in time to the days when replenishing the larder meant rustling a few hundred sheep or cattle.

Lloyd Langley, Wallington's house and collections manager, said: “The original house was part of a chain of pele towers that ran across this area of Northumberland, also including Kirkharle, Little Harle, Shoreflatt Tower and Capheaton.