Twizel Castle

has anyone visited the castle in 2014?

The first child to be born of william and agnes briggs was called Rachael in 1827,she married james jeffrey and lived on the twisell estate.they had a daughter called martha briggs . The other chidren were Jane, Eleanor, mary, agnes, william, thomas,Matthew, Margaret, and agnes, the grandaughter.

williiam briggs the stonemason died at twisell castle in the year 1859. the castle was finished except for some of the floors?.

one of the turrets from the demolished large mansion called twizel castle was aquired by count horace st. paul who lived at ewart park near wooler and rebuilt by numbered stones near his house.

the briggs ancestors. ralph and isobel,down to thomas and ........ ,then to william and agnes 1804/5.through to thomas 1839 to 1909 then to james henry briggs to son james henry junior. SON JAMES. 1952.

the folly built by the stonemasons and later demolished was lived in not by the baronet blake,who lived with his family in tillmouth house not far away,but by the briggs family untill they had to move to norham village.

twisell castle, thank you for a great family tree,the briggs family of newcastle upon tyne ,northumberland.

the1828 directory, volume 2 by parson and white,page 342,newcastle central library shows thomas briggs,stonemason next to sir francis blake baronet living in the twisell area,norham parish, thomas briggs was born in 1771.he must have worked on the building of the castle for the baronet.

IN THE LAST PHASE OF BUILDING THE GOTIHIC CASTLE..THE STONEMASON LIVING IN THE CASTLE WAS WILLIAM BRIGGS AND HIS WIFE AGNES WITH THEIR FAMILY. IN THE 1851 CENSUS 35 PEOPLE LIVED AT THE CASTLE.

the first child to be born to william briggs was called rachael who married james jeffrey and they had a daughter called martha.

The people who lived at twisell castle had thier own pews in the north transept of norham church near the river tweed. the pew number was 28. .The year was 1856.

the son of wiiliam briggs b.1802 was called thomas who moved from the castle to the scotswood area of newcastle,denton road, number 25 ridley terrace not far from the river tyne. he married ann and they had family.

qn a picture of the north side of twisell castle above the entrance ,near the crenelations is a stone scull face with a black top hat on. the gothic mansion of 1851.

1n 1851 jane brggs , the daughter of william briggs the stone mason and agnes his wife,was a dressmaker and later lived in the village of norham near the river tweed.

three of the children belonging to william briggs the stonemason died in childhood, margaret aged 7 ,agnes aged 6, and matthew aged 20 months.

The ruins of the castle that are on the top of the hill now were buried inside the new build gothic mansion like putting a tea cosy over and around the old castle. the mansion was pulled down in 1862.

Walked up the river tweed from norham to rhe castle, april 2011. .found the notbook in the room near window .record of visits.

the wooded slope underneath the castle was known as ST. HELENS BANK all along the river till to the bridge. On an old map of 1860 /65 there are three wells here, St. helens well,near the nursrey for plants,THE CAT WELL to the east of the castle,and the bridge end well near the entrance from the main road.

In the photograph c, 1910 ,twisel castle and bridge,the rock outcrop seen through the arc of the bridge at twisell near the river till is where the spring water from the CAT WELL drips down to the ground.

the mansion of twisel castle had carriage tracks leading up to the main door at the north side of the castle and from the east turret on the north end. these carriage ways led across the field to the twizel smithy on the main road to berwick on tweed and down to the entrance near the old twisel bridge .

the people in norham village call the castle that belonged to the baronets blake TWYSEL CASTLE.

agnes briggs ,daughter of jane briggs the dressmaker who lived in the gothic mansion at TWYSEL CASTLE had a house of apartments in the village of norham.

NEW INFORMATION, In the 1861 census, only the brggs family lived in the gothic mansion on the twisel estate. agnes briggs the head of the house, a widow. william briggs the master mason had died in 1859. his son thomas ,,a mason was in the castle.

agnes briggs was in a house on the main street of norham village.in 1901 and 1906 the house schedule number in 1901 was 137, AND IT HAD 2 ROOMS.

the castle mansion at twisel had two members of the briggs family working as servants for the household......

all the rooms in the large gothic mansion called twizel castle had stone vaulted roofs to guard against fire ..

in the old ruined castle at twisel all the rooms right up to the roof had stone vaulted ceilings, very expensive to build. the later stone gothic mansion also would have been built in the same way.

for the history of the briggs family at twisell castle and at norham in northumberland see the website on ancestry library by WILLIAM ARMSTRONG 41. A FREE WEBSITE.

mr. bernard j bond of camberley, surrey has 2 and 3 x great ,great ,great grandrarents called margaret, agnes and willam who lived at twisell castle.

has the new notebook been left at the castle for people to record visits

the plastic lunchbox lay broken in one of the roons in the castle,

copies of the visits to the castle have been sent to catherine kent who works for a company in duns,berwickshire who left a record of her visit to the castle.

this plastic lunchbox ,do you have to hide it in different places in the castle walls ?. please put a notice on the box not to break it.

left a paper sheet above the fireplace in one of the rooms of the castle , please make a note of your visit to the castle and hang the pen and paper back up on the wall.

has anyone else visited twisel castle recently, is the paper sheet still hanging above the fireplace in the main room. have you recorded details of your visit from far away? . I came up to the castle from newcastle,, other people came from much further away,

the video,gefrin, the song a little time, i have been in the same room in the stone vaulted rooms in the castle.

The briggs family who lived in the gothic castle called twisell are buried in norham churchyard near the path leading up to the porch of the church.

has anyone visited the castle recently.? please leave a note with name and area you come from.

i was there 3 years ago quiet interesting
i see haw the chimonies's were cleaned
i liked the ceilings
around backit looked like there was a safe way to feed workers during fighting

thank you for your reply, please look into the many buildind phases the castle went through until it was demolished.hope the weather was fine for your visit there.

to see the castle try getting the bus from berwick on tweed to norham village and going down to the riverside to walk south along the bank of the tweed to the castle about 3 miles. this is a public footpath all the way ,flat in places with climbs up through the trees which line the riverbank.

we have a link to the briggs family who lived in the twisel area/the castle before it was demolished in about 1880. there is a thomas briggs awaterman living in bells close,scotswood who gives his birth place as northumberland..parish of tysel......twisel and is included in the public member family tree bell...gladwood 55 on the free ancestry website. ....mary robson had two spouses,willam briggs and thomas of tysel,both watermen.

the NCAP collection of aerial photographs on the google website has an old photograph of the area of the castle dated around 1956 showing the railway and the river tweed.