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Hylton Castle Visit

On Tuesday October 23rd, Year 7 were lucky enough to go on a trip to Hylton Castle. We weren’t able to go onto the site due to extensive renovations taking place at the moment, however we were able to learn the history and get relatively close to the construction site.

On Tuesday October 23rd, Year 7 were lucky enough to go on a trip to Hylton Castle. We weren’t able to go onto the site due to extensive renovations taking place at the moment, however we were able to learn the history and get relatively close to the construction site.

 The Hylton family had the land to build a castle on because they supported William the Conqueror in the Battle of Hastings.  Their father was killed during the battle, so the two remaining sons were rewarded with land on which they could build a new estate. The family went over to the Norman side because they thought that they had a better chance of triumph with William. They were also afraid of violent reprisals due to the fact that William needed English supporters to get him the Crown but could only secure support through force. The Castle was originally built out of wood but was converted to stone in the 14th century. It was built to defend the Hylton family just after the first devastating bout of the Black Death.

The castle slowly evolved as the Hylton’s gained more wealth. As time went on, the castle became less of a  castle as wings were added so it became more of a stately home.

The Hylton family in England eventually died out, but some live on in America. The castle as we know became a school and then was changed to a training ground for soldiers in the first world war. Then it changed again into a coalmine because there was a rich vein of coal quite near it. Finally, it went into ruins. We have no pictures of what the Hylton Castle looked like because the place was ransacked.

It was a brilliant day out and on behalf of year seven we’d like to thank Mrs Cheape for organising it. 

By Tom 7MR