Location : Bolton / Crackenthorpe / Appleby
Map - Ordnance Survey - NY 648211
Bewley Castle was once the home of the Bishops of Carlisle. Said to have been built by Bishop Hugh who died in 1223. The castle was originally called 'Bellus Locus'. It was was rebuilt in 1325 and restored by Bishop William Strickland in 1402.
Later it became the home of the Machell and Musgrave families until 1857.
It features in the legend of the Robbers of Bewley by Reagill's poet Anthony Whitehead (A border reiver dressed as a woman, out to rob Bewley castle in the time of Sir Richard Musgrave, gets hot fat poured down his throat while he sleeps by the house keeper Margaret Dawe).
Today it is part of the adjoining farm, on private land.
Aerial photos by Simon Ledingham.
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