Forde Castle is a Grade 1 listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument situated at a shallow crossing point on the River Till

River Till

The River Till in Northumberland is the only tributary of the River Tweed which flows wholly in England. . The upper part of the Till, which rises on Comb Fell, is known as the River Breamish...

, Ford

Ford, Northumberland

Ford is a small village in Northumberland, England, about from Berwick-upon-Tweed. Ford shares a parish with Etal.- History Pre-1513 :Very little is known of the history of the area before the Norman Conquest in the 11th century, but Bronze Age rock carvings in the area suggest that there might...

, Northumberland

Northumberland

Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

The castle dates from about 1278. The owner Sir William Heron was granted a licence to crenellate the castle in 1338. It was captured by the Scots in 1385 and dismantled by them. However by the beginning of the 16th century it had been rebuilt and refortified. It was taken by James IV of Scotland

James IV of Scotland

James IV was King of Scots from 11 June 1488 to his death. He is generally regarded as the most successful of the Stewart monarchs of Scotland, but his reign ended with the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Flodden Field, where he became the last monarch from not only Scotland, but also from all...

 on the eve of the Battle of Flodden Field

Battle of Flodden Field

The Battle of Flodden or Flodden Field or occasionally Battle of Branxton was fought in the county of Northumberland in northern England on 9 September 1513, between an invading Scots army under King James IV and an English army commanded by the Earl of Surrey...

 in 1513. The castle passed from the Heron family to the Carr family by marriage in 1549 and again by marriage passed to Sir Francis Blake

Blake Baronets

There have been four Baronetcies for persons with the surname Blake, one in the Baronetage of Ireland, two in the Baronetage of Great Britain and one in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom...

 of Cogges, Oxfordshire in the 1660s.

Blake built a substantial mansion in Tudor style

Tudor style architecture

The Tudor architectural style is the final development of medieval architecture during the Tudor period and even beyond, for conservative college patrons...

 within the castle in 1694. On Blake's death in 1717 the Ford estate passed to the husband of his late daughter Mary and then in 1723 to her son Francis Blake Delaval

Francis Blake Delaval

Francis Blake Delaval may refer to* Francis Blake Delaval , naval officer* Sir Francis Blake Delaval , his son...

 (1693–1752). In 1761 John Delaval, 1st Baron Delaval

John Delaval, 1st Baron Delaval

John Hussey Delaval, 1st Baron Delaval , known as Sir John Delaval, Bt, between 1761 and 1783, was an English landowner and politician.-Background and education:...

 (1728–1808) rebuilt the Hall with the assistance of architect George Ruffield in a Gothic style

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

.

On his death the property passed to his granddaughter Susannah who had married the Marquess of Waterford

Marquess of Waterford

Marquess of Waterford is a title in the Peerage of Ireland and the premier marquessate in that peerage. It was created in 1789 for George Beresford, 2nd Earl of Tyrone.-Family history:...

. In 1862 Louisa, Dowager Marchioness of Waterford (d 1891), widow of the 3rd Marquess, restored and substantially remodelled the Hall.

The castle was acquired in 1907 by the coal-mining magnate James Joicey, 1st Baron Joicey

James Joicey, 1st Baron Joicey

James Joicey, 1st Baron Joicey was a coal mining magnate from Durham and a British Liberal Party politician....

 and it remains in the ownership of his family, although since 1956 it has been leased to Northumberland County Council

Northumberland County Council

Northumberland County Council is a unitary authority in North East England. It was originally formed in 1889 as the council for the administrative county of Northumberland and reformed in 1974 to cover a the newly formed non-metropolitan county of Northumberland...

as a Young Persons' Residential Centre.