Cockermouth Castle by D R Swift

Cockermouth Castle is a medieval enclosure castle which developed from an earlier motte and bailey castle on a ridge overlooking the confluence of the Rivers Derwent and Cocker in the Cumbrian town of Cockermouth. The first castle on the site was a motte and bailey constructed by William de Fortibus II in the mid-12th century. Around 1225 William de Fortibus III replaced the timber castle with a stone triangular castle on the same site. During the latter years of the 14th century major rebuilding work was undertaken by Maud de Lucy and her first husband the Earl of Angus, and completed by Henry Percy, the Earl of Northumberland. Much of this work remains. During that period the castle was taken by Scottish raiders but then recovered. The castle was in a state of decay during the latter half of the 16th century. Its state was such that Mary Queen of Scots was housed in Cockermouth Hall rather than in the Castle when she fled Scotland and was detained in England. The castle played a significant role in the Wars of the Roses, and the Civil Wars of the 1640s. In August and September 1648 a garrison of Parliamentary soldiers were besieged in the castle by Royalist troops. The siege was relieved by a Parliamentary force from Lancashire. The castle then passed from the Percy family to Charles Seymore, Duke of Somerset. In 1750 it was acquired by the Wyndham family, Lord Egremont, who decided to live at the castle and built residential rooms along the north wall of the outer bailey and a stable block along the south wall. Further accommodation and offices were added in the early 20th century. The castle remains in the family. It is now part ruin and part occupied. This view is from the south across the River Derwent towards the South Curtain Wall and the later buildings behind.