Bamburgh Castle is situated on a basalt outcrop on the edge of the North Sea looking across to Holy Island and the Farne Islands. The area that Bamburgh Castle occupies today has being inhabitated for many hundreds of years and recent studies by Durham University found that there was evidence of fortifications at Bamburgh predating the Roman Conquest. The castle that can be seen today however began to take shape in the time of the Norman conquest. The Norman structure survived until the end of the Wars of the Roses. The castle then fell into the ownership of the Forster family until the mid eighteenth century when it was sold to Lord Crewe, Bishop of Durham. In the late 19th century Bamburgh was bought by Lord Armstrong and his descendants are today Bamburgh's present owners. Lord Armstrong set about restoring the castle at a cost of around one million pounds.

Bamburgh castle today is open to the public and is said to be the finest castle in England.