Alnwick Warrior

Alnwick Castle

The last third of the fourteenth century -- Henry Percy, the first earl of Northumberland, led the fight against the Scots, and Alnwick castle was command center. Three Boyntons worked with him in protecting the realm: first Robert, then Thomas and then Henry [A Boynton Story: Feudal Lord]. The castle was a place where these Boyntons spent time making it a place of interest to Boyntons, even if not quite a Boynton Place.

William Percy arrived in England one year after William the Conqueror [Brenan, p. 4]. The Conqueror made him responsible for land in Yorkshire, and Yorkshire remained the center of the family weath until the fourteenth century. In 1309 Henry Percy, the grandfather of the first earl of Northumberland, purchased the castle at Alnwick, and associated land, from the Bishop of Durham [Brenan, p. 20]. That moved the family into the center of the wars against the Scots. As they fought against the Scots, kings rewarded them with more land in Northumberland, which made the outcome of the warring even more important for them.

  Alnwick was safely south of the border, but close enough to serve as a staging point for military activity. It is approximately 30 miles south of Berwick Upon Tweed and the Scotland border. It is somewhat farther to the Boynton manors. Acklam and Roxby are about 90 miles south of Alnwick and Boynton is another 30 miles south. The Boyntons had to travel a considerable distance to participate in the warring against the Scots.

Follow the Alnwick warrior to see the approach to the castle. Click --

Brenan, Gerald (1902) A History of the House of Percy From the Earliest Times Down to the Present Century, vol. I, Freemantle, London.