A project has recently begun to add descriptive content to documents held at Northumberland Archives relating to the Lord Crewe Charity; this has been made possible by a grant the charity itself made to the Northumberland Archives Charitable Trust.
A bundle of documents connected to the sale of Bamburgh Castle in 1894 by the trustees of Lord Crewe’s charity to Lord William George Armstrong was amongst those recently reviewed. The electronic catalogue entries can be found using reference NRO 00452/D/11/1/1* (the use of the asterisk will return each individual item within the bundle). The original documents can be viewed by visiting our search room based at Woodhorn.
Contracts along with the numerous drafts that come before the final signing can sometimes be quite a dry topic, but they can reveal some unexpected details too. The sale related to “Bamburgh Castle and the farm lands and hereditaments (items that can be inherited e.g., property or rentals) in the townships of Bamburgh Castle and Bamburgh, Northumberland; the advowson (the right in ecclesiastical law to recommend a member of the Anglican clergy for a vacant benefice, or to make such an appointment) of the vicarage of Bamburgh, Northumberland; and, the furniture scientific apparatus arms pictures and all other effects”. A schedule of the tenants and a plan are included in the final version of the contract.
The chattels within the Castle initially included the books, these were subsequently removed from the sale. It was specified that the portraits of Lord and Lady Crewe were excluded although Lord Armstrong later wrote to the trustees asking if there were any objections to an artist copying the portraits, at his expense, as he recognised their importance to the Castle. The price I hear you ask – a mere £60,000. Using the National Archives currency converter this equates to about £4.9million or 6,191 cows (1890 prices compared to 2017 purchasing power)…now that does seem like a bargain!
The reason for the sale was reported within the ‘Alnwick and County Gazette’ newspaper dated 28 April 1894. It was a financial decision; expenditure had been higher than income for a few years and the Charity Commission felt that the sale of the Castle should be exercised. The concern raised at the time undoubtedly echoed the concerns that would be raised today “It might be some speculative builder, or some adventurous hotel-keeper; or, it might be somebody we would less like to see in the possession of these stately old buildings”. The trustees resisted as long as they possibly could, the school that once had been held within the Castle walls was given up, but sadly that was not enough and the difficult decision to sell was made.
When Lord Armstrong came forward as the purchaser there seemed to be genuine relief; the ‘Alnwick and County Gazette’ newspaper reported his intentions. “The preservation of Bamburgh Castle as a historic monument, and its restoration to a more dignified position […] have led me to contract for its purchase”. Armstrong went on to say that he intended to restore the Great Hall and convert some of the buildings once used as part of the girls boarding school to seaside lodgings to be used by convalescent patients. The aims of Armstrong were compatible with those of the Charity; it was on this basis that the negotiations and subsequent sale went ahead the trustees assured that this was the best possible outcome for the Charity at the time.