Yes, that’s right a proper castle is going on sale for less than the price of a semidetached house in London! Blenkinsopp Castle near Hadrian’s Wall is a fourteenth century structure featuring four bedrooms as well as two reception rooms. The castle could be yours for three hundred and twenty five thousand pounds. If you want to move in to one such home, prepare to lower the drawbridge for the man and van people as Blenkinsopp Castle has a (small) moat, turreted walls and amazing stone masonry throughout the place. The property also comes with its own set of fourteenth century ruins – to the contrary, a semidetached home in London (without any ruins) will set you back about half a million pounds.
The Blenkinsopp family built the castle for themselves in thirteen thirty nine (this is before TV). For many years the castle served as the family’s permanent residence, but later on one of the descendants of the family William Lyle Blenkinsopp Coulson added a hotel part to the castle in eighteen eighty.
The castle complex is quite a thing. Besides the actual castle which is fitted out for perfectly comfortable everyday living (no chains and armour chest plates on walls), the property also features a Pele tower. A Pele tower is a type of fortified structure serving as watchtower – the man and van movers will be thrilled to lug furniture up the stairs of one such thing, not! Anyway, the tower itself was added sometime in the nineteenth century.
Like any other self-respecting castle, this one also has its own ghost story. Apparently, the place is haunted by the ghost of Bryan de Blenkinsopp’s wife. Why so? Because Mr Blenkinsopp decided to leave his poor Mrs Blenkinsopp for good after she refused to tell him where she’d buried her treasure chest. Perhaps the poor Mrs Blenkinsopp wasn’t so poor after all. Of course the chest was never found, there is no evidence of any kind that a treasure chest even existed, but all of it makes up for a great story to go with the castle (the ghost is a freebie). The White Lady as the ghost is known to still roam the corridors from time to time, perhaps looking for her treasure or the ghost of her dodgy husband.
In the nineteen fifties, Blenkinsopp Castle was ravaged by fire quite badly, at the time it was a guest house, thankfully there are no (known) casualties in the fire. Since then the castle has been lovingly restored and its interior modernised for comfortable and luxurious everyday living. Currently, the imposing building is a Grade II listed structure.
As per the estate agents – those looking to buy the property will receive quite a bit of asset for a very moderate price. The castle’s history alone makes it’s a great catch for people looking to buy something that’s both traditional and unusual at the same time. Overall the castle is a practical and beautiful home that is fit for any person to live in.
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About the Author:
Kim Jacobs
Kim Jacobs is a removals coordinator with over 11 years of experience as part of the Get man and van team and other firms in the home and office relocation industry in London. Before joining our company, Kim has worked in various logistical and transportation companies and institutions such as Transport for London, The Removals Ombudsman, and has coordinated moving projects with some of the biggest suppliers of various goods such as IKEA, HomeBase, Amazon, Sainsbury's and others. While working as a chief removals coordinator, Kim also enjoys sharing her expertise with others through writing in our blog.
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