This fort is believed to be of
Saxon origin. The keep stands on the area of the rock, having an open
space around it. It is square, and of that kind of building which
prevailed from the Conquest till about the time of our second Henry.
It had no chimney; but fires had been made in the middle of a large
room, which was lighted by a window near its top, three feet square.
All the other rooms were lighted by slit or loop holes, six inches
broad. The walls are of small stones, from a quarry at Sunderland on
the sea, three miles distant: within them is a draw well, discovered
in 1770, in clearing the cellar from sand and rubbish; its depth is
145 feet, cut through solid rock, of which seventy-five feet are of
whinstone. The remains of a chapel were discovered here, under a
prodigious mass of land, in the year 1773; its architecture was pure
Saxon, and the ancient font being found, was preserved in the keep.
The chapel has been rebuilt on the old foundations.
[Illustration: _(Bamborough Castle before the general repairs.)_]
The founder of the Castle is stated by Matthew of Westminster to have
been Ida, King of Northumberland. Sir Walter Scott sings
Thy tower, proud Bamborough, mark'd they
here,
King Ida's castle, huge and square,
From its tall rock look grimly down,
And on the swelling ocean frown.
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