Qualla: Chillingham Castle

Chillingham Castle: Introduction

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rich Tea, CC BY-SA 2.0. There is a herd of white cattle in a walled park at Chillingham that has remained genetically isolated for at least seven hundred years. They are not pets. They are not domesticated. Visitors view them from a respectful distance, escorted by a warden, because no one has bred selection or kindness into them. They are about as close as Britain comes to a glimpse of a medieval landscape that has otherwise vanished, and they happen to graze beside the castle that has, for as long as anyone can recall, been called the most haunted in England.

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Image: Rich Tea | CC BY-SA 2.0

Chillingham Castle: On the Border

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bill Boaden, CC BY-SA 2.0. Chillingham began as a monastery in the late twelfth century. By 1298 it was important enough that King Edward I stayed here on his way to fight William Wallace, and a glazed window in a wooden frame was specially installed for the king - a luxury so unusual at the time that it c...

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Image: Bill Boaden | CC BY-SA 2.0

Chillingham Castle: From Fortress to Country House

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit John Sparshatt, CC BY-SA 2.0. The Union of the Crowns in 1603 changed the castle's purpose almost overnight. Anne of Denmark, Queen of Scotland, stayed at Chillingham with her children on 6 June 1603, travelling south to join her husband James in London. A poem celebrating her welcome was probably written by ...

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Image: John Sparshatt | CC BY-SA 2.0

Chillingham Castle: Rescue from Ruin

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The Second World War nearly finished Chillingham. The army billeted soldiers here as a barracks, and much of the decorative woodwork was stripped out and burned. After the war, lead was taken from the roof, and weather did the rest. By 1980, when the 10th Earl of Tankerville succ...

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Chillingham Castle: The Blue Boy and the Wild Cattle

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Roger Cornfoot, CC BY-SA 2.0. Chillingham's most famous ghost is the radiant boy, sometimes called the blue boy, who according to the owners used to haunt the Pink Room. The castle has been visited by the Most Haunted television show and attracts overnight visitors hoping for a sighting. The Chillingham wild ...

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Image: Roger Cornfoot | CC BY-SA 2.0