The Alnwick Castle is located in the village of Northumberland in the old country of England, United Kingdom.

The castle dates back to the ninth century and is believed to be the home of a vampire. Here is the story of the vampire castle of England.

Medieval Alnwick

The name itself is divided in two things put together as part of Old English. Aln being the name of the river nearby and “wick” which meant “old dairy settlement” and there you have Alnwick.

Alnwick is a market town dating all the way back to about six hundred AD. The dwellers are not as many as you would think. Situated in the north of  Northumberland part of a traditional county. Alnwick acted as a staging post and once was home to the most influential medieval baronial family named, the Earls of Northumberland.

 

The town owes its popularity to its medieval people calling it home and governing over the land. The town that is now quite little once had quite a history in itself. The history of the castle starting with Gilbert Tisson who became one of William the Conqueror‘s bearers from whom he gave the land. For two hundred years the castle and estate belonged to the De Vesci family before it belonged to the House of Percy in 1309.

Alnwick saw many battles in the medieval years, and one of them took place in the year 1174 called the second, Battle of Alnwick where a stone tablet marks the exact emplacement where William the Lion of Scotland was captured. He was surrounded by four hundred knights mounted on their horses led by Ranulf de Glainvill.

Now The Vampires

William of Newburgh first reported the story of the Vampire of Alnwick Castle. However, this supposed vampire existed even before the word had even been invented in Old English. There are different encounters when it comes to vampires around Alnwick’s castle.

Yves de Vescy became Baron of Alnwick in 1093 he erected the first part of the castle itself. The story mentioned above, along the years, had legends coming from the castle. One of them being that a former lord, before Baron de Vescy lived in the undergrounds of the castle and would maraud at night to attack villagers.

Vampire Spy

A nobleman is believed to have had doubts about his wife cheating on him. One night, the man followed his wife from the outside, and when he crouched, the roof gave in, and when falling, he killed his wife. Refusing to ask for forgiveness for his sins, the man passed without cleansing, and that’s when it all began for the villagers.

 

At the same time, the man was seen walking around the village, coming back from the dead as a revenant, a plague spread through the village. The man was said to feed on the blood Alnwick dwellers. All were reported by a lady who encountered the vampire by her bedside and to whom he told to report his story.

As the tale spread, dwellers were afraid and locked themselves inside their homes at dusk. Then, a local priest decided it was time to attack the vampire. As he led a group of followers, the priest had the man’s tomb opened. His body showed to the people appeared bloated with blood which dripped down the moment he was hit with a spade.

Legend or Fact?

 

Of course, people at the time didn’t know the procedure of a decaying body; however, people from the village stood firm that it was the man who fell on his wife and killed her inside the castle. Is the legend based on truth and the revenant an actual vampire, nobody will ever know?

 

One thing is for sure, old castles from early medieval must have had their share of monsters walking through their halls, and a few of them might have been thirsty for the blood of those they were ordered to conquer.

Until next time,
The OCD Vampire,
Alexa Wayne