| Coupland Castle | |
| Location: | Northumberland, England |
| Pushpin Map: | United Kingdom Northumberland |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in Northumberland |
Coupland Castle is situated in the village of Coupland, 4miles to the north-west of Wooler, Northumberland, England. It is a Grade I listed building. The Grade I listed "castle" is actually a tower house "built after 1584, with irregular later additions".[1]
Coupland Castle is a tower house rather than a castle, and was probably built at the end of the 16th century, sometime after 1584. The tower has three storeys, with an attic on top and a small projecting tower carried up the south wall. Between the two towers, the entrance to the castle with the date 1594 inscribed on the door jamb.[2] The building is made of rubble from different stone types. In addition, the building has a slate roof.
A date-stone over a fireplace in the tower engraved 'GW 1615 MW' is thought to represent George and Mary Wallis, owners at that date.[3]
Other historic features include the upper spiral staircase, designed to be defended by a left-handed swordsman, and a resident ghost who was said to haunt the Court Room, before reputedly being exorcised in 1925. A separate farmhouse was added to the south-west of the tower in the 18th century.
In 1713, the property was purchased from the Wallis family by Sir Chaloner Ogle a successful naval officer. During his command of HMS Swallow (1703) against the notorious pirate Bartholomew Roberts in the Battle of Cape Lopez in February 1722, Roberts was killed.[4] The castle has been added to over the years and was restored in the 19th century. In 1820 it was extended when a three-bay two-storey house was built adjoining the tower.[3]
The Bates family owned the estate in the 18th century. Elizabeth Bates, heiress to the estate, married Matthew Culley (born 1731), the noted agriculturist, in 1783.[5] In 1820 the house was the residence of a later Matthew Culley, High Sheriff of Northumberland in that year. The Culleys sold the estate in 1928.[6] Coupland Castle was designated a Grade I listed building on 21 September 1951. The listing states that significant alterations had been completed in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries and then, circa 1820-25.
Robin Jell bought the property in 1979 and lived there with his second wife Fiona.[7] Jell died in 2019 and in 2020, the castle was put up for sale.[8] Jell had restored the 13,747sq ft main house; the property included a three-bedroom cottage and a lodge, as well as a series of outbuildings.[9]