Heaton Castle

The castle was the seat of the de Heton family,[1] 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.[1]

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.[2] One record of the invasion mentions the "siege of Heaton", in Latin, "obsidione de Hedtoun".[3]

Arms of Grey of Heaton and Howick: Gules, a lion rampant a bordure engrailed argent. These arms were adopted in lieu of the ancient arms of Grey borne by all other branches of the family descended from Henry de Grey (1155-1219) of Grays Thurrock, Essex: Barry of six argent and azure

The Grey family of Heaton was descended from Hugh de Grey, a younger son of Henry de Grey (1155-1219) of Grays Thurrock in Essex, a courtier of King John, whose ancestry is traceable back to Anchetil de Greye (c.1052 - post-1086), a Norman soldier and follower of William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford one of the great magnates of early Norman England and one of the very few proven companions of William the Conqueror known to have fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The descent of the de Grey family of Heaton is as follows:

• Sir Thomas Grey (d.1344), 3rd in descent from Hugh de Grey, was an eminent soldier in the Anglo-Scottish wars in the reigns of Edward I and Edward II. He married Agnes de Bayles.
• Sir Thomas Grey (d.1369), son, "The Chronicler", who wrote the English chronicle, the Scalacronica. He married Margaret de Presson,[5] the daughter and heiress of William de Presson[6] of Presson, near Carham in Northumberland.
• Sir Thomas Grey (1359-1400) of Heaton and of Chillingham Castle, who married Joan de Mowbray (d.1410), sister of Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk,[7] and daughter of John de Mowbray, 4th Baron Mowbray (d.1368) by his wife and Elizabeth de Segrave, daughter and heiress of John de Segrave, 4th Baron Segrave by his wife Margaret of Brotherton (c.1320-1399), suo jure 'Countess of Norfolk, in 1397 created Duchess of Norfolk for life, the daughter and eventual sole heiress of Thomas of Brotherton, eldest son of King Edward I of England, by his second marriage. In 1338 she succeeded to the Earldom of Norfolk and the office of Earl Marshal. His second son was John Grey, 1st Earl of Tankerville[8][9] (1384-1421), KG.
• Sir Thomas Grey (1384-1415), son, one of the three conspirators in the Southampton Plot against King Henry V in 1415. In about 1408 he married Alice Neville, a daughter of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, by his first wife Margaret de Stafford (d.1396), a daughter of Hugh de Stafford, 2nd Earl of Stafford.
• Sir Thomas Grey (1404-1426), who in 1412, at eight years of age, was betrothed to Isabel, then three years of age, only daughter of Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge,[10] and Anne Mortimer; they had one son.[11] At about this time the family abandoned Heaton and moved to its other estate at Howick in Northumberland. His descendants gained peerage titles including: Baronet Grey of Chillingham, Northumberland (1619); Baron Grey of Werke (1623/4); Baronet Grey of Howick (1746); Baron Grey of Howick (1801); Viscount Howick (1806); Earl Gret (1806). His most notable descendant was Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, 2nd Viscount Howick (1764-1845), KG, of Howick Hall, Prime Minister and supposed inventor of the famous tea.

In 2011 the estate of Castle Heaton (with Shellacres) was offered for sale at an asking price of £11.5 million,[12] a record for recent years in the North East.[13]

• King, Andy (2005). "Scaling the Ladder: The Rise and Rise of the Grays of Heaton, c.1296-c.1415". In Liddy, Christian D. (ed.). North-east England in the Later Middle Ages. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. pp. 57–74.
• Pugh, T.B. (1988). Henry V and the Southampton Plot of 1415. Alan Sutton. ISBN 0-86299-541-8
• Richardson, Douglas (2011). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Vol. II (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)ISBN 1449966381
• Richardson, Douglas (2011). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Vol. III (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

• Historic England. "Remains of Heaton Castle circa 30 yards north-west of farmhouse (1304159)". National Heritage List for England.
• http://www.keystothepast.info/article/10339/Site-Details?PRN=N2338
• Clare Howard & Rebecca Pullen, Castle Heaton, Cornhill-on-Tweed: An Investigation of the Vaulted Building and Adjacent Earthworks (English Heritage, 2014)

• Image of tower

55.67067°N 2.15838°W / 55.67067; -2.15838