Bamburgh ( ) is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

on the coast of

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

, England. It had a population of 454 in 2001, decreasing to 414 at the 2011 census. Bamburgh was the centre of an independent north Northumbrian territory between 867 and 954.

Bamburgh Castle Bamburgh Castle, on the northeast coast of England, by the village of Bamburgh in Northumberland, is a Grade I listed building. The site was originally the location of a Celtic Britons, Celtic Brittonic fort known as ''Din Guarie'' and may have ...

was built by the Normans on the site of an Anglo-Saxon fort. The

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

heroine

Grace Darling Grace Horsley Darling (also known as "Amazing Grace"; 24 November 1815 – 20 October 1842) was an English lighthouse keeper's daughter. Her participation in the rescue of survivors from the shipwrecked ''Forfarshire'' in 1838 brought her nat ...

is buried there. The extensive beach by the village was awarded the Blue Flag rural beach award in 2005. The Bamburgh Dunes, a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

, stand behind the beach. Bamburgh is popular with holidaymakers and is within the Northumberland Coast

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is one of 46 areas of countryside in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Since 2023, the areas in England an ...

History

The site now occupied by

was previously home to a fort of the

Celtic Britons The Britons ( *''Pritanī'', , ), also known as Celtic Britons or Ancient Britons, were the Celtic people who inhabited Great Britain from at least the British Iron Age until the High Middle Ages, at which point they diverged into the Welsh, ...

known as ''Din Guarie'' and may have been the capital of the kingdom of

Bernicia Bernicia () was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England. The Anglian territory of Bernicia was approximately equivalent to the modern English cou ...

, the realm of the

Gododdin The Gododdin () were a Brittonic people of north-eastern Britannia, the area known as the Hen Ogledd or Old North (modern south-east Scotland and north-east England), in the sub-Roman period. Descendants of the Votadini, they are best known ...

people, from the realm's foundation in c. 420 until 547, the year of the first written reference to the castle. In that year, the

citadel A citadel is the most fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of ''city'', meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. ...

was captured by the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

ruler

Ida of Bernicia Ida (; died ) is the first known king of the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia, which he ruled from around 547 until his death in 559. Little is known of his life or reign, but he was regarded as the founder of a line from which later Angle kings in t ...

(Beornice) and became Ida's seat. The Anglo-Saxons called the place ''Bebbanburh'', meaning "Queen Bebba's stronghold"; this was later corrupted into the modern "Bamburgh".

Aidan of Lindisfarne Aidan of Lindisfarne (; died 31 August 651) was an Irish monk and missionary credited with converting the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity in Northumbria. He founded a ministry cathedral on the island of Lindisfarne, known as Lindisfarne Priory, ser ...

came to this area from the monastery of Iona in 635 on behalf of King

Oswald of Northumbria Oswald (; c 604 – 5 August 641/642Bede gives the year of Oswald's death as 642. However there is some question of whether what Bede considered 642 is the same as what would now be considered 642. R. L. Poole (''Studies in Chronology and H ...

. Following the defeat of Northumbrian forces by the Viking

Great Heathen Army The Great Heathen Army, also known as the Viking Great Army,Hadley. "The Winter Camp of the Viking Great Army, AD 872–3, Torksey, Lincolnshire", ''Antiquaries Journal''. 96, pp. 23–67 was a coalition of Scandinavian warriors who invaded ...

, at York in 867, the Kingdom of Northumbria disintegrated. Southern Northumbria became the Viking-ruled

Kingdom of York Scandinavian York or Viking York () is a term used by historians for what is now Yorkshire during the period of Scandinavian domination from late 9th century until it was annexed and integrated into England after the Norman Conquest; in parti ...

, while north remained under Anglo-Saxon control under the high reeves of Bamburgh. The territory finally became part of the

Kingdom of England The Kingdom of England was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from the late 9th century, when it was unified from various Heptarchy, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland to f ...

in 954. The late medieval village began to develop near the castle. During the dissolution of the monasteries the property of the friars, including the castle, was seized on behalf of

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

. Late medieval British author

Thomas Malory Sir Thomas Malory was an English writer, the author of ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', the classic English-language chronicle of the Arthurian legend, compiled and in most cases translated from French sources. The most popular version of ''Le Morte d'A ...

identified Bamburgh Castle with

Joyous Gard Joyous Gard (French ''Joyeuse Garde'' and other variants) is a castle featured in the Matter of Britain literature of the legend of King Arthur. It was introduced in the 13th-century French Prose Lancelot, Prose ''Lancelot'' as the home and form ...

, the mythical castle home of Sir Lancelot in Arthurian legend.

Lionel Lukin Lionel Lukin (18 May 1742 – 16 February 1834) was a British carriage builder and inventor, noted for the invention of the 'unimmergible' Lifeboat (rescue), lifeboat. Private and professional life Lukin was born in Great Dunmow, Essex, on ...

's first purpose-built lifeboat was stationed here in 1786. The

Royal National Lifeboat Institution The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest of the lifeboat (rescue), lifeboat services operating around the coasts of the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on s ...

re-established a lifeboat station here in 1882 but it closed in 1897.

St Aidan's Church

According to

Bede Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most f ...

, St Aidan built a wooden church outside the castle wall in AD 635, and he died here in AD 652. A wooden beam preserved inside the church is traditionally said to be the one on which he rested as he died. The present church dates from the late 12th century, though some pre-

conquest Conquest involves the annexation or control of another entity's territory through war or Coercion (international relations), coercion. Historically, conquests occurred frequently in the international system, and there were limited normative or ...

stonework survives in the north aisle. The chancel, said to be the second-longest in the country (), was added in 1230; it contains an 1895

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a Church (building), church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular a ...

Caen stone Caen stone () is a light creamy-yellow Jurassic limestone quarried in north-western France near the city of Caen. The limestone is a fine grained oolitic limestone formed in shallow water lagoons in the Bathonian Age about 167 million years ...

by W.S. Hicks, depicting northern saints of the 7th and 8th centuries. There is an effigy of local heroine

in the north aisle. This formed part of the original monument to Grace Darling but was removed due to weathering of the stonework. Her memorial is sited in the churchyard in such a position that passing ships can see it. The property has been Grade I listed since December 1969. The listing summary includes this description:

"Parish church. C12, C13 and C14. Restored 1830 and later C19. Squared stone and ashlar; chancel and north transept have stone slate roofs; other roofs not visible. West tower, nave, aisles, transepts and chancel".

After the dissolution of the monasteries in the mid-1500s, the monks were forced to leave and St Aidan's became the parish church for the village. Over the subsequent centuries there were major repairs and restorations. The church's crypt holds the remains of 110 individuals who died in the 7th and 8th centuries; they had initially been buried in the castle's Bowl Hole graveyard. The remains were found during a project between 1998 and 2007. In 2016, they were moved into the crypt. Since November 2019, the crypt can be viewed by visitors through a small gate.

Governance

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

of the same name exists. This ward includes Belford and also stretches south to Ellingham with a total population taken at the 2011 census of 4,846.

In popular culture

, under its Saxon name Bebbanburg, is the ancestral home of Uhtred, the main character in

Bernard Cornwell Bernard Cornwell (born 23 February 1944) is an English author of historical novels and a history of the Waterloo Campaign. He is best known for his long-running series of novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe. He has also writ ...

's historical 13-novel series ''

The Saxon Stories ''The Saxon Stories'' (also known as ''Saxon Tales''/''Saxon Chronicles'' in the US and ''The Warrior Chronicles'' and most recently as ''The Last Kingdom'' series) is a historical novel series written by Bernard Cornwell about the history of A ...

'', published 2004–2020, which was made into the BBC and Netflix five-season series '' The Last Kingdom'' 2015–2022. Bamburgh is also featured in the open-world video game series '' Forza Horizon 4'' released in October 2018. Additionally, Bamburgh is featured in the Realtime Strategy video game '' Ancestors Legacy'' released in 2018.

Notable people

Æthelfrith of Northumbria Æthelfrith (died ) was King of Bernicia from c. 593 until his death around 616 AD at the Battle of the River Idle. He became the first Bernician king to also rule the neighboring land of Deira, giving him an important place in the developme ...

* William George Armstrong * Joe Baker-Cresswell *

Prideaux John Selby Prideaux John Selby FRSE Linnean Society, FLS (23 July 1788 – 27 March 1867) was an English ornithologist, botanist and natural history artist. Life Selby was born in Bondgate Street in Alnwick in Northumberland, the eldest son of George ...

Uhtred the Bold Uhtred of Bamburgh (Uhtred the Bold—sometimes Uchtred; died ca. 1016), was ruler of Bamburgh and from 1006 to 1016 the ealdorman of Northumbria. He was the son of Waltheof I, ruler of Bamburgh (Bebbanburg), whose family, the Eadwulfingas, ...

Photo gallery

File:Bamburgh from the castle - geograph.org.uk - 72471.jpg, Bamburgh village and surroundings File:Bamburgh - geograph.org.uk - 42007.jpg, Bamburgh seen from the castle File:The Grace Darling memorial - geograph.org.uk - 1263594.jpg, Grace Darling memorial in the churchyard File:The Grace Darling Museum - geograph.org.uk - 1263588.jpg, The Grace Darling Museum, opposite the church File:Crossroads in Bamburgh - geograph.org.uk - 344623.jpg, Crossroads in the village, looking towards the castle Image:Bamburgh castle268.jpg, Beach and castle, looking south Image:Bamburgh map 1947.jpg, A map of Bamburgh from 1947

Bamburgh Lighthouse

References

External links

Bamburgh Photos

Local History and Information on Bamburgh, The Farne Islands and surrounding areas.

Photos by Peter Loud

Bamburgh Online

(Accessed: 5 November 2008)

(Accessed: 5 November 2008)
Trinity House
{{authority control Villages in Northumberland Capitals of former nations Populated coastal places in Northumberland Civil parishes in Northumberland States and territories disestablished in the 950s