Northumberland Castle Publishes 40 Facts for Its 40th Anniversary as a Hotel and Restaurant

Langley Castle, located in Langley-on-Tyne, near Hexham, since 1350, will be staging a major celebration of its 40 years as a hotel and restaurant on Wednesday May 6.

This is an occasion on which it will be celebrating 40 ‘community knights’ who have all made fabulous contributions to the local community in Northumberland.  With historic re-enactors and tours that will bring the castle to life for invited guests, plus knights abseiling down the castle walls, Northumbrian clog dancers and the next stage in tree planting by a local school, all eyes will be on Langley Castle.  But how much do you know about its amazing story?  

For its 40th anniversary as a hotel and restaurant, Langley Castle (www.langleycastle.co.uk) has dived into its past, producing 40 fabulous facts about things that have occurred during its 676-year history.  

40 Things You Never Knew About Langley Castle

1. Langley Castle opened its doors for business as a hotel and restaurant on March 17, 1986 after purchase by American MIT professor, Dr Stuart Madnick.

2. That same month, it welcomed its first-ever wedding function for bride Miss Young, daughter of the local postmistress. A week later, there was a champagne reception for a Dutch bride and her New Zealander groom. Its first actual wedding ceremony was in spring 1995, when it became the first Northumberland venue to stage newly-approved civil weddings under the terms of The Marriage Act 1994.

3. The medieval castle has seven-feet-thick walls but no foundations. That kept enemies from tunnelling under the castle, to gain entry! After all, the castle was built in 1350 by Sir Thomas de Lucy, after his manor house, on the same site, was burnt down by David Bruce’s Scottish troops, who had crossed the border and rampaged!

4. Sieges must have been expected, as the castle has 12 garderobes. These are deemed the best example of these medieval toilets that you can find in Europe!

5. The original castle staircase runs clockwise. This helped defend the castle from right-handed attackers who would find it difficult to wield a sword on the staircase.

6. Although Sir Thomas de Lucy was Langley Castle’s first owner, he was not the first Baron of Langley – the title attached to the castle. That was Adam de Tindale, who owned 13,000 acres in the Lower Tyne Valley – the size of 9848 football pitches.

7. Remarkably, in 2022, a medieval seal belonging to either this Adam, or his son Adam, was found by metal detectorist, Warwick Rochester, in South Tyneside. It was purchased by Dr Madnick and is now on display in Langley Castle’s reception.

8. Thomas de Lucy married twice, with second wife, Agnes de Beaumont, being King Edward III’s cousin. That is not the only royal connection. In 1705, the castle passed to James Radcliffe, grandson of Charles II and Moll Davis; son of Lady Mary Tudor.

9. Being cousins to the exiled Stuarts, the Radcliffe brothers (James and Charles) supported the Jacobite cause. James led an army, in 1715, and was captured, with Charles, at the Battle of Preston. He was executed in February 1716, but Charles inexplicably escaped the Tower of London.

10. Charles Radcliffe returned in 1745, to take part in the second Jacobite uprising, but was captured and executed at the Tower – as the last Englishman beheaded there.

11. Perhaps the only memorial to the two brothers was erected by Langley Castle’s Victorian owner, Cadwallader John Bates. It is just a little way down the road. 

12. James Radcliffe was not just Baron of Langley but Earl of Derwentwater too. When his body was returned north, the Northern Lights appeared. In the North East, this is why they are sometimes called Lord Derwentwater’s Lights.

13. Langley Castle was uninhabited between 1405 and the late 19th century because it had no roof. A fire of 1405, which destroyed the roof but not the sturdy walls, was punishment for the then owner, Henry Percy’s, rebellion against King Henry IV.

14. In 1981, archaeologists in St Bees, Cumbria discovered two mummified bodies (St Bees Man and St Bees Woman). These were later proven to be Anthony and Maud de Lucy, children of Langley Castle’s Sir Thomas. 

15. The castle is supposedly haunted by a Grey Lady, said for many years to be grieving widow Maud de Lucy, who threw herself out of a window following her husband’s death in battle. In 2020, Langley Castle proved this impossible, highlighting a ghostly mix-up. Maud de Lucy actually remarried into the Percy family, following the death of her first husband, and died before the second. There is a huge mystery relating to Agnes de Beaumont and what happened to her, however, so Langley suggested the ghost might be Agnes, not Maud!

16. The grey lady is said to have inspired J K Rowling,  who visited the castle whilst writing her books. Could Langley’s staircase, or maybe its cupboard under the stairs with a tunnel once said to led to Haydon Bridge, have also sparked something?

17. Other famous people to have stayed or visited Langley Castle include: Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage, Jonathan Ross, Robson Green, Andrew Flintoff, Richard Hammond, Denise Welch, Dom Joly, Harry Enfield and Clive Anderson. The castle has even welcome doggy influencer, Le Corgi!

18. Langley Castle has run daily Battlements Tours, to share its rich history with guests and non-residents, since 2014. 39% of people have never experienced such a thing at a hotel. 

19. There is a chapel on the Battlements, consecrated by Pope Leo XIII in 1902, after the widow of Cadwallader John Bates – Josephine d’Echarvines – visited Rome to request this. Both she and Cadwallader are also buried in the grounds.

20. Although the title of Baron was stripped from the castle, after the deeds of the Radcliffe brothers, it was purchased by current owner, Dr Stuart Madnick, and reunited with the castle in 2007. He and wife, Mariann, are the official Baron and Baroness of Langley, with their own coat of arms.

21. For his 30th anniversary of ownership in 2016, Dr Madnick buried a time capsule, housed in a Nebuchadnezzar champagne bottle. This contained documents relating to the castle and Barony but also a child’s letter to the people of the future.

22. For the first-ever Northumberland Day in 2017, for which Dr Madnick campaigned, Langley Castle created the World’s Biggest Stottie Cake. It measured 1 metre in diameter, weighed 15kg pre-filling and tipped the scales at 60kg once filled with pease pudding.

23. In 2018, Langley Castle created the World’s Biggest Noggie for Northumberland Day – a Northumberland version of a Welsh Oggy! The Noggie measured 1.5 metres in length and weighed 40kg. It was filled with 9kg of the Northumberland Cheese Co’s Oak-smoked cheese, had 6kg of onion and was wrapped in 8kg of pastry.

24. During lockdown, Langley Castle again became an innovator, this time creating the World’s First Bubble Wedding, working within pandemic guest-number restrictions.

25. The same spirit underpinned Pooch Smooches – a kiss for visiting canine guests during lockdown, delivered through glass (just as soap stars were doing on TV!). This made national headlines too!

26. Langley Castle’s lockdown messaging was so powerful that the UK government swiped it and used it as the centrepiece of its official ‘staycation’ campaign, designed to get tourism back off the ground after Covid. Langley appeared in literally hundreds of publications, UK-wide, as the centrepiece of the official advertorial. 

27. As a result, Langley won the Silver Award for Resilience and Innovation at the national Visit England Awards for Excellence. Other triumphs have been two Silver Awards at national Enjoy England Awards and 5 Gold Awards in the North East.

28. Langley Castle survived two World Wars. During this period, it housed army troops. In the post-war period, it became a girls’ boarding school and was then a venue for medieval banquets, complete with jester – none other than Auf Wiedersehen Pet and Benidorm actor, Tim Healy, father to Matty Healy, lead singer of The 1975!

29. In July 2023, Langley Castle became the scene of the world’s largest wedding party skydive. The groom and nine groomsmen all skydived into the wedding, landing in a field close to Langley Castle’s newly created Woodland Wedding area.

30. In early 2025, groom Chris Parkes, demonstrated his love for the castle at which he had performed this feat. He appeared on TV’s The Great Pottery Throwdown and recreated Langley Castle in pottery.

31. Langley Castle sits on the A686, deemed one of England’s most beautiful drives by the AA, thanks to its route up steep Hartside Pass and through part of the North Pennines AONB.

32. So many guests likened Langley Castle to something out of Game of Thrones, that Langley Castle organised a Game of Thrones-themed wedding shoot in 2019. The photos have appeared extensively in the press.

33. The castle originally opened its doors with eight castle guest rooms, all named after former owners or historical references, & later added the Tower Room. In 1996 and then 2009, another 19 rooms followed, when Dr Madnick renovated former stables and created the Castle View accommodation. Another room was later added within Castle Lodge.

34. The first self-catering accommodation only arrived in 2024, thanks to inspiration provided by Dr Mariann Madnick. The former toll cottage at the castle gates was transformed into the Toll Bar Luxury Villa - secluded accommodation ideal for guests wanting privacy and to wake up to an exquisite castle view.

35. In the early 2020s, Langley Castle launched hugely popular Starry Knights experiences in collaboration with the world-renowned Kielder Observatory and in celebration of its location in a dark-sky park. Guests can stay, dine, go star-gazing at Kielder and return to a cheeseboard and snifter!

36. The castle has 90-foot-high walls and they have been used for abseiling on various occasions, often to raise money for local charities.

37. In November 2024, Langley Castle appeared on 49 TV programmes and 32 radio stations, thanks to having Britain’s most loyal customer, 92-year-old Molly Robinson. Although Molly has now sadly passed away, she visited Langley Castle every Thursday lunchtime, for 37 years, for what became Molly’s Special – soup, followed by fish and chips washed down with two glasses of champagne.

38. The castle has been the venue for a two-day Indian wedding, involving a Haldi ceremony and more, and a Viking Wedding at which the couple staged a handfasting ceremony and guests played Viking games such as axe throwing and Kubb.

39. In autumn 2025, Leo Grant became the World’s Youngest Tour Guide, at the age of just 10, when he won a competition and presented his version of the Battlements Tour at Langley Castle.

40. Dr Madnick’s love for Langley Castle was fully demonstrated in December 2023, when he married, Dr Mariann Drago, at the castle, flying in friends and family from the USA and other countries for what was a multi-cultural, fabulous occasion.

Ends

Editors notes

Langley Castle, built in 1350, is located in Langley-on-Tyne, Northumberland and is one of the few authentic, fortified medieval castles in England. It has a rich history, with strong links to Jacobite rebellions, is located just a stone's throw from the World Heritage Site of Hadrian's Wall and boasts features including battlements, seven-feet-thick walls, window seats set into the walls and the best example of medieval garderobes in Europe. It is one of the most exquisite wedding venues in the north and also offers a wide range of options when it comes to exclusive use, with the castle being available for weddings, family celebrations, Bar Mitzvahs and Bat Mitzvahs, D&D-style events and a wide variety of corporate functions.