Chillingham Castle is located in the northern part of the country, in Northumberland County. The castle was founded in the 12th century and was originally a structure with a single watchtower.
Chillingham was located on the border of England and Scotland and was of great strategic importance in the Middle Ages. That is why the Scots often raided the castle, and for the British it served as a stopping point for border troops.
In 1617, Chillingham was visited by James VI, King of England and Scotland. It was thanks to his actions that the conflict between these countries was settled and the political situation stabilized. Chillingham ceased to play the role of a military citadel and began to be positioned as a castle for aristocrats and royal nobility.
And if outwardly Chillingham changed in the direction of secular traditions, then inside it was a tangle of conspiracies, dramas and intrigues. Tragedies associated with love affairs and power struggles have taken many lives.
Promotional video:
Sometimes they see wandering ghosts in the castle: a man and a little boy. Eyewitness testimonies caused smiles, but only until during the restoration of Chillingham, when one of the dead ends was destroyed, two skeletons were found: an adult and a child. Scratches on the stones indicate that they were walled up alive.
There is a torture chamber in the basement of the castle. Here, John Sage, the cruel master of the castle, strangled one of his mistresses right during intercourse. These events did not remain within the walls of the dungeon, but were overheard by a servant and made public. The disturbances and unrest associated with this could turn into an uprising on the border, and King Edward Long-Legs ordered the execution of John in his own castle.
By the way, in the Chillingham dungeon, many remains of victims with broken limbs were found. All bodies, except one left as a memorial sign, were removed. Currently, in the cell, you can see the skeleton of a little girl, the last prisoner who died in the gloomy dungeon of the castle.
In 1980, the castle was equipped with a museum that preserved the atmosphere of that time and some antiques associated with the history of this place. It is also known that due to ghosts, the museum has already changed two caretakers, and one completely disappeared without a trace.