Raby Castle, Durham
=How to get there.=–Train from King’s Cross. Great Northern Rly.
=Nearest Station.=–Durham. (Raby Castle is close to the town of
Staindrop.)
=Distance from London.=–256 miles.
=Average Time.=–Varies between 5-3/4 to 7-1/2 hours.
1st 2nd 3rd
=Fares.=–Single 35s. 10d. ... 21s. 2d.
Return 71s. 8d. ... 42s. 4d.
=Accommodation Obtainable.=–At Durham–"Rose and Crown
Hotel,” “Royal County Hotel,” etc.
=Alternative Route.=–Train from St. Pancras. Midland Railway.
Raby Castle, the ancestral home of the Nevilles and an almost perfect
specimen of a fourteenth-century castle, is situated close to the little
town of Staindrop in the county of Durham. Canute, the Danish king, is
said to have had a house in Staindrop; and it was he who presented Raby
Castle to the shrine of St. Cuthbert. The castle passed from the
possession of the monks in 1131, when they granted it to Dolphin, who
belonged to the royal family of Northumberland, for the yearly rental of
£4. Dominus de Raby, a descendant of Dolphin, married Isabel Neville,
the heiress of the Saxon house of Balmer, and their son, Geoffrey, took
the surname of Neville. The present castle was built by John, Lord
Neville, about the year 1379, when he had permission to fortify.
There is very little history attaching to the fortress, for, with the
exception of two insignificant attacks during the Civil War, it
sustained no sieges. It belonged to the Nevilles until 1570, when
Charles Neville, Earl of Westmorland, lost the castle, together with all
his estates, for the share which he took in the rising in the North for
the restoration of the Roman Catholic religion in England. Not being
situated on high ground, the chief defence of Raby Castle, apart from
the strength of its walls, must have been the abundance of water which
completely surrounded it.
The chapel is the oldest portion; but the castle was almost entirely
built in one man’s lifetime, and bears scarcely any traces of earlier or
later work. The interior, however, has been much altered by modern
architects, who have obliterated a great portion of John Neville’s work.
The Baron’s Hall used to be a fine room, with beautiful windows, an oak
roof, and a stone music-gallery. The kitchen, which occupies the whole
interior of a large tower, is one of the most interesting and perfect
features of the castle, though it has no longer the original fireplaces.
[Illustration: Photochrom Co., Ltd.
RABY CASTLE.
Built by John, Lord Neville, about the year 1379.]
Continue...
Preface •
Ham House and Petersham •
Walton-On-Thames (scold’s Bridle) •
Harrow •
Holwood House, Keston •
Chigwell, Essex •
Waltham Abbey and Cross •
Downe •
Epsom: Its Races and Its Salts •
Epping Forest •
Hampton Court •
Rye House, Broxbourne •
Hatfield House, Herts •
Runnymead, the Signing of Magna Charta •
The Oldest Brass in England •
St. Albans •
Stoke Poges Church, Bucks •
Windsor •
Jordans and William Penn •
Knole House and Sevenoaks •
Greenstead Church •
Chalfont St. Giles •
Westerham •
Guildford, Surrey •
Gad’s Hill •
Ightham Mote, Kent •
Penshurst •
St. Michael’s Mount and Marazion •
Rochester Cathedral •
Tunbridge Wells •
The Quintain Post At Offham and Malling Abbey •
Eversley •
Farnham, Surrey •
Hindhead, Surrey •
Shottermill •
Penn’s Chapel At Thakeham, Sussex •
Chawton the Home of Jane Austen •
Selborne •
Elstow •
Lewes, Sussex •
Bodiam Castle, Sussex •
Colchester, Essex •
Layer Marney •
Battle Abbey •
Cambridge •
Arundel Castle •
Olney, Bucks •
Wantage and the Country of Alfred the Great •
Canterbury and Its Cathedral •
Reculvers •
Oxford •
Midhurst •
Pevensey Castle •
Savernake Forest •
Ely Cathedral •
St. Ives, Huntingdonshire •
Winchelsea and Rye •
Blenheim Palace •
Peterborough Cathedral and Crowland •
Peterborough •
Southampton •
Helmingham Hall •
Stonehenge, Wiltshire •
Netley Abbey •
Salisbury and Its Cathedral •
Sandwich, Kent •
New Forest, Hampshire •
Osborne House •
Carisbrooke Castle •
Lutterworth •
Compton Wynyates •
Kenilworth Castle •
Belvoir Castle •
Bath •
Boston and the Pilgrim Fathers •
Warwick •
Gloucester and Its Cathedral •
Norfolk Broads •
Norwich Cathedral •
Lichfield •
Sherborne and Its Abbey Church •
Newark •
Wells and Its Cathedral •
Stratford-On-Avon •
Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk •
Lulworth Cove, Dorsetshire •
Corfe Castle •
Lincoln and Its Cathedral •
Somerset, the Birthplace of Tennyson •
Glastonbury Abbey •
Walsingham, Norfolk •
Cheddar Caves, Cheddar, Somerset •
Newstead Abbey •
The Wessex of Thomas Hardy’s Romances •
Tintern Abbey •
Chesterfield, Derbyshire •
Dukeries •
Haddon Hall, Derbyshire •
The Isle of Athelney, and Sedgemoor •
Raglan Castle •
Dovedale •
Wellington and the Wrekin, Shropshire •
Wroxeter and the Roman City of Uriconium, Salop •
Buildwas Abbey, Shropshire •
Ludlow and Its Castle •
Shrewsbury •
Buxton and the Peak District •
Tewkesbury •
Exeter and Its Cathedral •
Market Drayton, Salop •
Chester •
Exmoor •
Knutsford •
Torr Steps On the Barle, Somerset •
Cleeve Abbey, Somerset •
Hawarden •
York Minster •
Coxwold, Yorkshire •
Llangollen and Valle Crucis Abbey •
Knaresborough, Dripping Well •
Fountains Abbey •
Ripon Cathedral •
Dartmoor •
Haworth •
Rievaulx Abbey •
Brixham, Devon •
Conway Castle •
The Doone Valley, Exmoor •
Llandovery, South Wales •
Dartmouth, Devon •
Richmond, Yorkshire •
Tintagel •
Whitby •
Carnarvon Castle •
Plymouth •
Durham and Its Cathedral •
Raby Castle, Durham •
Snowdon •
Harlech Castle •
Grasmere and Rydal Mount •
The Lake District •
St. Davids Cathedral •
Furness Abbey, Lancashire •
Monkwearmouth, Near Jarrow •
The Isle of Man •
Brantwood •
Fowey •
Hexham and Hadrian’s Wall •
The Lake District •
Keswick •
Alnwick Castle •
Lanercost Priory, Cumberland •
Lanercost Priory and Stepping-Stones.] •
St. Ives, Cornwall •
Bamborough Castle, Northumberland
![[Buy at Amazon]](http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0006ADKOC.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg)