Norham Castle - 'The Bloody Castle'

A historic site very close to my heart, with its roots entwined with my own personal family ancestry - say hello to Norham Castle, a formidable medieval fortress which was at the heart of the border wars between the English and the Scottish. This lead the castle at Norham to be the key inspiration for Castle Black in George R R Martin's Game Of Thrones series.
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[@TheStickFigureHistorian]

Those walls have sure seen a lot! That is totally cool that your ancestor, Sir Thomas Gray, actually held the castle--and never let it get taken over! Although...my ancestor was actually on the opposite side of that siege... But hey, the past is the past... Thanks for sharing!

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

I'm sure the ancestors would drink together and laugh about it now! All fair game.

[@chickenfriedrice2932]

Love the channel Sir. Well done!

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

Ta! Much appreciated

[@richardhinton3801]

Great video Alex. Interesting family ancestry. No wonder you have history running through your veins!

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

Hah I sure do! Always been fascinated by military history and now I know why!

[@chrisderby986]

Another great video. Thank you

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

Thank you much appreciated:)

[@lizscutt7899]

Wonderful Alex, as always you Sir, are awesome x

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

Ayyy thank you :)

[@lovelyskull3483]

Thank you for this amazing video.

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

Thank you (:

[@paulinesalmon7374]

Visit in winter, just as it's starting to get dark. The atmosphere completely changes!! Love this place, been many times.

[@dannetterousseau4095]

Alex - you rock, as usual! So intriguing and awesome. Great job! Why were the Scots so enthralled with this one? Closer to 'absorb' more territory? What are the differences in the thickness of the walls between Norham's and the White Tower/Tower of London? Sure wish I could interview you. Thanks for all you do.

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

Norham was always just a danger for the Scottish. It was right on their border and consistently supplied with a lethal garrison, making invasions very likely. I don't know how thick the walls are the tower of London is but they would be much thinner.

[@domingoocho4374]

I just saw this castle posted on your Instagram, amazing!

[@BSdetected]

The Grays were ever at the heart of matters… until that unfortunate incident with lady jane, the nine day queen. You have an amazing storied history, well remembered

[@Damarious25]

Really great video! Some CGI of what the castle might have looked like would be nice instead of only shots of the ruins. But that's just icing on an already great video

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

I have absolutely no clue how to do CGI and I definitely don't have a budget for that haha. But thank you :)

[@gideonbolt8068]

Actually the inspiration for the red keep from GOT was Brougham castle.

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

In fairness, George R R Martin cited multiple fortresses as his inspiration, including Norham and Hadrian's Wall in general (likely Housesteads Fort) An extra fact - Kings Landing castle was largely inspired by Pontefract castle, although it now doesn't look much like how it did in its heyday!

[@paulsutton7552]

No mention of 1513 Flodden campaign.

[@Coyote_be]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="150">02:30</a> re accent aigu.... Dieu que cette IA est encore une cneonire incroyable.

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

There's no AI in my videos mate

[@Coyote_be]

@AlexTheHistoryGuy the french translation I mean.

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

Oh I don't have any control over that haha, that's automatically generated by KZbin