Chipchase Castle

The Heron family acquired the Manor of Chipchase by the marriage of Walter Heron to the Chipchase heiress. He built a massive four-storey battlemented tower house on the site of an earlier house in the mid-14th century.^[2][3]

A survey in 1541 described a "fare tower" with a "manor of stone joined thereto" owned by John Heron.^[4]

In 1621, Cuthbert Heron (High Sheriff of Northumberland in 1625) demolished the house and built a fine Jacobean mansion, leaving the tower standing and attached to the new house.^[3] His first son George was killed at the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644 in the service of Charles I. His second son Cuthbert was created a Baronet by Charles II (see Heron Baronets), but he experienced financial problems which eventually led to the sale of the estate by the Herons to George Allgood, a Newcastle merchant, in 1727.^[5]

John Reed, a Newcastle upon Tyne banker, acquired the estate in 1734.^[6] Reed carried out major alterations to the castle, including a classical façade to the old tower.^[7] The failure of Reed's family bank caused his descendants to sell the estate to the Greys of Backworth in 1821 to defray debts.^[8] The Greys then sold the estate to Hugh Taylor in 1861.^[9]

The castle is privately owned. It is associated with Paul Torday, the author of the novel Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, which was made into a popular film. He lived there with his second wife Penelope (née Taylor), who inherited the estate, and reportedly did much to help manage it.^[10]

The grounds are open to the public but the Castle is open to the public only in June.^[11]