“It’s packed with troubled souls. Far, far too many to deal with. On no account buy this castle.”
Such was the advice given to Sir Humphrey Wakefield by a psychic, just before he purchased his wife’s ancestral seat, Chillington Castle in 1982. The castle, a former monastery, built on the on the border between England and Scotland, had been in the Grey family for 800 years before its abandonment in 1932. In its day, Chillington had been the base of Kings, played a significant role in the conflict between the two nations and hosted the deaths of thousands in its grounds. By 1982, it was nothing but a ruin.
With such a history, it was no wonder Chillington was believed to be one of the most haunted castles in England. Sir Humphrey, however, ignored the advice and purchased Chillington. For over a decade he worked to restore it to its former glory. Now open to visitors, Chillington castle is a major Northumberland tourist attraction, which draws guests with its dark history-a darkness further enhanced when the castle’s restorations revealed yet more of Chillington’s morbid past. So why is the history of Chillington castle so chilling? And is it merely another medieval castle with a bloody past whose reputation has been overhyped for the tourists?
Bloody Beginnings
Chillingham was occupied from prehistoric times. During the Second World War, an impromptu excavation in the castle grounds by a German POW uncovering flint and antler arrowheads and axes dating to the Bronze Age. These tools may be evidence of a prehistoric hunting camp. Or it may have been an early manifestation of war. By the Iron Age, local tribes had established a fort at Chillington, on nearby Ross Hill, which overlooks the present castle’s grounds. Perhaps this was the original ‘homestead of Ceofel’ that gives Chillingham its name.
By the 1200s, the conflict was increasing along the borderlands between England and Scotland. Monks had built a house on the land below Ross Hill. This monastery was converted into a fortified manor house with just one tower and a curtain wall. The monarchy placed the new castle in the hands of the Grey family in 1246. The Greys were descendants of the Croys, kin of William the Conqueror. Tasked with holding the border around Chillingham, it was they who turned the manor into a fortress, constructing its dungeons, torture chamber and battlements.
In 1297, the First Scottish War of Independence broke out. That same year, the forces of William Wallace raided Chillington, burning local women and children alive in a church. However, in 1298, Edward I, “the Hammer of the Scots” made Chillington his base for the campaign against Scotland. Chillington’s dungeon began to fill with enemy prisoners- Scottish women and children, as well as soldiers and spies. Legend says that King Edward personally appointed the man who was to deal with them: John Sage.
Sage was supposedly a soldier who had risen through the ranks to become a lieutenant in Edward’s army. When a leg injury forced him to retire from combat, he begged the King to find him a role. So, Edward, had him appointed torturer at Chillington castle. Sage was a sadist and hated the Scots. Over the three years of war, he reputedly tortured some 50 prisoners a week. When the war ended, Sage burnt the remaining adult prisoners alive in the grounds of the castle while their children watched from what is known as the Edward Room or Killing Room. Sage later hacked these children to death with an ax still displayed in the castle.
In all, 7500 Scottish prisoners reputedly died at Chillington; their bodies dumped into its lake. John Sage also met his end at Chillington. One evening, Sage killed his lover Elizabeth Charlton, strangling her during a sex game on the rack in Chillington’s torture chamber. Unfortunately for Sage, Elizabeth’s father was a leader of the powerful border reivers, outlaw gangs who plagued the borderlands but were vital to the fight against the Scots. To avoid losing the Reivers to the enemy, Edward I handed Sage over to justice. He was sentenced to hang at Chillington but was torn apart while he still lived. Others would soon join Sage’s ghost and those of his victims.