2011

NY9038 : Archaeological excavation at Westgate 'Castle'

taken 13 years ago, near to Westgate, County Durham, England

Archaeological excavation at Westgate 'Castle'
Archaeological excavation at Westgate 'Castle'
Weardale's 'Lost Castle' in Westgate was one of the most important buildings in the North Pennines from the mid C13th through until the early C17th century. It provided the 'west gate' into the Bishop of Durham's great deer park (which originally extended as far as Stanhope, but later contracted to Eastgate), and was probably used as a defensive tower house, administrative centre and hunting lodge. When ruined, most of its masonry was reused in adjacent buildings especially the adjacent school building (now an abattoir) which
dates from c1820, leaving nothing visible above ground. The site was well known to local people and with foresight of the current owner of the land, preserved from further development.

A recent geophysical survey revealed the likely location of buried walls and a preliminary community archaeology project was undertaken for a week in May 2011 to open a few trial trenches. Following public tours of the excavations on the afternoon of Saturday 14th May the site is due to be reburied awaiting funds and a proposal for a future full archaeology project.

The excavation was undertaken by the North Pennines AONB Partnership's 'Altogether Archaeology' project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage directed by Durham University Archaeological Services.

North Pennines AONB LinkExternal link




See other images of Westgate 'Castle'

Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Andrew Curtis and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Historic sites and artefacts other tags: Archaeological Excavation Castle Click a tag, to view other nearby images.
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Castle [10] Title Clusters: · Archaeological excavation at Westgate 'Castle' [5] ·
1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
+
1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
TIP: Click the map for more Large scale mapping
Grid Square
NY9038, 253 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Andrew Curtis   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Friday, 13 May, 2011   (more nearby)
Submitted
Saturday, 14 May, 2011
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! NY 9067 3824 [10m precision]
WGS84: 54:44.3425N 2:8.7859W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! NY 9067 3824
View Direction
NORTH (about 0 degrees)
Clickable map
+
NW N NE
W Go E
SW S SE
Image classification(about): Geograph
This page has been viewed about 364 times
You are not logged in login | register