Haggerston, Northumberland

Haggerston was first mentioned in sources in 1311, when Edward II visited Haggerston Castle, and again in 1345, when the castle was described as a 'strong tower' and was granted a licence to crenellate by Edward III in the same year. This licence is recorded in the Calendar of patent rolls (1343–45), p. 479.

The inhabitants of the castle, the de Hagardestons, are believed to have been part of the invading force of William the Conqueror, who invaded as far north as Berwick-upon-Tweed. The land at Haggerston was, at that time, boggy and wet, the remaining lake serving as a reminder of this. There are few records of the early part of the history of Haggerston Castle, as later fires destroyed much of the castle, along with its documents. It is known that John de Hagardeston inhabited the castle in the late 12th and early 13th century, his death having been documented circa 1210. He married into the Manners family, of Cheswick. The name of de Hagardeston appears to have changed to the anglicised spelling of Haggerston with Thomas Haggerston, born circa 1458.

In 1642, Sir Thomas Haggerston was created the first baronet of Haggerston, in the Baronetage of England. The Haggerstons married into many great families, such as the Cheswick family, gaining large amounts of land, but Haggerston eventually became a minor estate, connected to the Maxwell and Constable families, and passed to the Maxwell Lord Herries of Terregles, through Winifred Maxwell, who married William Haggerston-Constable, second son of the third Baronet. Their grandson, William Constable-Maxwell, became the 10th Lord Herries of Terregles when the title was restored in 1858.

Haggerston is in the parliamentary constituency of Berwick-upon-Tweed.

In 1925, a firm of commercial nurserymen specialising in conifers were looking for a breed that was fast growing, and could be deployed in hard to grow windy and salty areas such as Cornwall. Eventually they found the six original trees developed by Leyland, and began propagating the species, calling them Haggerston Grey in respect to their origins.[4] In 1953, a freak tornado blew down one of the original trees at Haggerston (the other original five trees still survive), on which the research division of the Forestry Commission started developing additional hybrids. Commercial nurseries spotted the now termed Leylandii's potential, and for many years it was the biggest-selling item in every garden centre in Great Britain, making up to 10% of their total sales.[5]

• Haggerston Castle

• Jackson, Michael. (1992) Castles of Northumbria. Barmkin Books. ISBN 978-0-9519708-0-5
• The Haggerston Historical Handbook
• Historic England. "Haggerston Tower and Rotunda (1042246)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
• Images of Haggerston castle
• Haggerston Pedigree from Stirnet