The tunnels, ghosts and revolutionaries of Walworth Castle

It is a grand medieval castle, steeped in stories of bricked-up maidservants and wandering ghosts, subterranean escape tunnels, royal visits, religious revolt and death in what was the country’s worst railway disaster. Its wider estate includes a deserted medieval village, where there is an agricultural out-building that may once have been a 12th Century chapel, plus an icehouse, a dovecote and a beebole.

It is Walworth Castle, currently a 32-bedroom hotel, to the north-west of Darlington. Here’s its story, its myths and its legends…

The 32-bedroom Walworth Castle hotel which is now for sale. Picture: Christie & Co

In the beginning
“Waleberge” was a settlement of people from Wales, pushed out of their homeland by invaders. Their village is said to have been devastated at the start of the 11th Century by Scottish invaders.

1150
The “handsome Hansards” emerge as the area’s leading family. They develop their manor house where the castle is today, and plan a village, with houses huddled around a green and a chapel, for their peasants to the north – its outlines can still be seen in the farmland.

1300
Robert Hansard, the sixth owner of Walworth, fights bravely on behalf of the English king, Edward I, at the siege of the Scots in Caerlaverock Castle, near Dumfries. In these dangerous border days, it may have been rampaging Scots, or the Black Death, which caused the end of the estate village at Walworth. Leading from the castle cellar is a brick-lined tunnel which dates from about 1380. Legend has it that it is an escape tunnel, leading to either Thornton Hall or Heighington church, for the Hansards to get away from the Scots. Or it could just be an old drain…

The cellars of Walworth Castle may date back to the earliest manor house. On the left is what may be a 14th Century escape tunnel. Picture: Christie & Co

1539
The Hansards’ heiress, Elizabeth, marries Sir Francis Ayscough of Nottinghamshire.

1579
The Ayscoughs sell their Walworth manor house to Thomas Jenison, the Auditor-General of Ireland. He keeps only the 13th Century south-west tower and knocks the rest down. On top of the old cellars, he builds a medieval castle – Thomas grew up in Brancepeth Castle, near Durham, which may have inspired him to make impregnable towers a feature at Walworth. His architectural gem, though, is a grand, north facing entrance in a courtyard. In Victorian times, the courtyard was covered by what is now a ballroom and the three-storey entrance is lost to view – it can only be fully appreciated from the roof!

The original, grand north-facing many entrance to Walworth Castle is now obscured by a ballroom. Picture by Chris Lloyd

1603, May 14
King James VI of Scotland stays the night at Walworth Castle as the guest of Elizabeth Jenison, Thomas’ widow. James is travelling south to London to be crowned James I of England and unite the crowns. A scribe wrote: “After his quiet repose there that night and part of the next day, he took leave of her with many princely gratulations for her extending cost in the entertainment of him and his retinue.” So grateful was James for the hospitality that he knighted Elizabeth’s son-in-law, George Freville, as a reward.

King James VI of Scotland who stayed the night at Walworth Castle on May 14, 1603, on his way to London to be crowned King James I of England

1689
The Jenisons, like most of the Durham upper class, are Catholics, refusing to convert to the new Protestant religion. They maintain close links with Heighington church, but these are largely for show as they worship clandestinely in the Catholic chapel at Cliffe Hall, Piercebridge. The Jenisons are regularly harangued and harassed by the Protestant authorities, who seize their assets. Many Jenisons live for safety on the continent. In 1679, one of their number, Father Thomas, dies in Newgate prison in London accused of taking part in the “popish plot” to assassinate Charles II, and in 1689, the castle is searched because the authorities believe the Jenisons are storing arms to be used in a rebellion against the Protestant monarchs, William and Mary.

1759
Ralph Jenison, who inherited the castle in 1704 aged 10 and has spent extravagantly refurbishing it, dies in debt, and his widow is forced to sell it for £16,000 (about £2.6m in today’s values) to Newcastle wine merchant Matthew Stephenson.

Walworth Castle from The Northern Echo archives: it does look a little like Brancepeth

1807
The heiress of Walworth, Anne Harrison, marries Lieutenant-General Arthur Aylmer, of Donadea Castle in County Kildare. He becomes the commanding officer of the 68th Foot Regiment, the forerunner of the Durham Light Infantry, and a leading figure in the county.

1831
Their son, John Harrison Aylmer, inherits Walworth and spends 30 years reshaping it to his tastes: he builds the ballroom that hides the old north entrance and reorientates the castle so its main entrance is on the west, as it is today. In 1864, he installed the grand staircase which is topped by an impressive stained glass window which features the Aylmer coat of arms and the motto “Hallelujah”.

The 1864 staircase in Walworth Castle, complete with the Aylmer's stained glass window. Four years after installing it, John Harrison Aylmer burned to death in a railway accident. Picture: Christie & Co

1868, August 20
John Harrison Aylmer, his wife Rosanna and their eldest son Arthur, 18, were on the Irish Mail Train going on a visit to their relatives in Donadea Castle, when it struck a runaway goods train carrying 1,700 gallons of highly inflammable paraffin oil. The impact, near the coastal town of Abergele in north Wales, caused an immense fireball – “not a fire but a furnace”, said the Darlington & Stockton Times graphically – which engulfed the train, incinerating 33 passengers so fiercely there was barely anything left of their bodies. Walworth suddenly was in the hands of the remaining sons, Percy, 12, and Edmund, nine.

1877
Percy went to Eton and then Cambridge University, but unusually failed to graduate, perhaps because he badly broke his leg in a hunting accident. To celebrate his 21st birthday, he built the castellated lodge house which today welcomes people to the castle – perhaps this completed his father’s vision which had been cruelly curtailed by the railway fireball. Although Percy was appointed High Sheriff of Durham, he didn’t want to be a country squire and so spent most of his time exploring uncharted Africa, venturing into parts of Sudan and Somaliland never seen before by a white man. While there, he produced the first maps and shot whatever moved – for years a massive elephant tusk adorned the entrance to Walworth Castle that he’d sent back as a trophy.

The gatehouse built in 1877 for Percy Aylmer's 21st birthday

1902
The younger brother, Edmund, was greeted by local people as a war hero on his return to Walworth as he had led the Hussars trapped by thousands of Boers in the South African town of Ladysmith for 118 days. However, like his brother, he didn’t regard the castle as home. Instead, it was rented to wealthy tenants: Sir Ernest Cassel, Edward VII’s financier, lived there so he could hunt with the Zetland; Sir Alfred Palmer, the Tyneside shipbuilder, had it as a country retreat, and an American millionaire from the Dodge car-building family also leased it.

1937
Following the death of Percy Aylmer in Newcastle, the castle was for sale. A five-day auction was held of all the possessions that had been collected over the centuries – the elephant’s tusk went for £17 – and the building itself was bought by Percy’s cousins, Charles and Neville Eade, who wished to keep it in the family, for £26,000 (about £1.5m in today’s values).

A fabulous wartime picture of Walworth Castle with the soldiers on the right and a Vaux lorry delivering essential supplies on the left

1939
The Army requisitioned the castle. The Pioneer Corps – the Army’s labour organisation – were based there and the DLI also used it. Towards the end of the war, it was designated as Prisoner of War Camp No 36, and Nissen huts were built to the east of the castle to house 200 Germans and, later, Italians. The PoWs were allowed to build a mini German castle at the entrance to the camp in which they had a theatre.

1950
Durham County Council bought the semi-derelict castle to be used as residential school for “educationally sub-normal” girls. The council spent many thousands making the roof watertight but did much damage to the interior plasterwork.

1980
Walworth Castle School transfers to purpose-built premises in Newton Aycliffe. The council sells it, and in 1981, it opens as a hotel. The room in which King James I slept becomes a bridal suite, and the hotel wins many awards over the years, with its history – and ghosts – playing a major part in its ambience.

The ghosts
The castle has two resident spooks. Firstly, a grey lady haunts the oldest portion of the castle, the south-west tower, known as the Library Tower. She is reputed to have been a maidservant who had the misfortune to fall pregnant by the master of the castle who had her bricked up in the spiral staircase inside the tower. Secondly, the west wing includes the ghost of a stableboy. His appearance apparently coincides with a distinct aroma of hay and dung.

An aerial shot of Walworth Castle Hotel. Picture: Christie & Co