Chillingham Castle

Summary

A medieval castle in northern Northumberland with an Italian-style walled garden, home of the Chillingham white cattle herd, used as a filming location for Elizabeth (1998, director Shekhar Kapur, starring Cate Blanchett).

About this location

Chillingham Castle stands in the village of Chillingham in northern Northumberland, approximately six miles south-east of Wooler and twelve miles north-west of Alnwick. The castle has been fortified since the 13th century; the present quadrangular structure with its four corner towers dates primarily from the 14th and 15th centuries, when it served as a stronghold of the Grey family. The castle played a role in Anglo-Scottish border conflicts: Edward I stayed here in 1298 while campaigning against Scotland, and the castle was frequently involved in cross-border raiding and warfare throughout the medieval period.

The castle was the seat of the Grey family, later ennobled as Earls of Tankerville, from the 15th century until the late 20th century. It passed in the 1980s to Sir Humphry Wakefield, who married into the Grey family and undertook a programme of restoration and repair. Several rooms are open to visitors and eight apartments within the castle and its outbuildings are available for holiday rentals. The castle is associated with ghosts — its owners market it as the most haunted castle in Britain — including the “radiant boy” said to haunt the Pink Room and the Grey Lady of the great hall.

The contain a walled Italian-style garden with topiary and formal plantings. In the adjacent parkland roams the Chillingham herd of wild white cattle, a herd that has been kept in the park since at least the 13th century and is considered one of the last surviving groups of wild cattle in the world.

Elizabeth (1998, director Shekhar Kapur, starring Cate Blanchett as the young Queen Elizabeth I) used Chillingham Castle as a filming location. The castle’s great hall served as Leith Castle and as a hunting lodge in the film. The medieval-style fibreglass fireplaces installed during the production remain in the great hall, placed over the 18th-century white marble fireplaces that were originally brought from the demolished Wanstead House in east London.