Heaton Castle

The castle was the seat of the de Heton family, which as was usual took its name from its seat. It passed in about 1250 to a branch of the prominent de Grey family, who in 1415 rebuilt it as a quadrangular castle. James IV of Scotland set miners to work to slight or demolish Heaton Castle on 24 September 1496, and gave his stone masons, led by John Cochrane, a bonus to work through the night. James IV brought the pretender Perkin Warbeck with him into England. They stayed some nights at Ellemford on the Whiteadder Water, and the invasion is known as the "Raid of Ellem". James IV brought his cannon to Heaton, and a horse was killed pulling a gun into position. One record of the invasion…

In 1541, Heaton Castle was described in a survey as "ruinous" but a later report identified "a vault that a hundred horses may stand in". By 1550, the ruins had been adapted "to form bases for large bastle type building with stone vault". The only remains surviving are two buttresses against the north-east wall of a stable-block, together with "probable remains of a turret and rampart", and the long barrel vault. In the 1580s, attempts at rebuilding and repair were made, but the project failed when the Grey family became involved in a dispute with the Crown concerning funding. The remaining building with the long vault has some characteristics of a Bastle house, and has been compared to…