The History of Haggerston Castle

Haggerston is first mentioned insources in 1311 when King Edward II visited it. The owners are believed to have come to Britain at the time of the Norman conquest. The original family name was de Hagardeston, later changed to Haggerston around 1458.

In 1642, Sir Thomas Haggerston was created the first baronet of Haggerston, in the Baronetage of England. The Haggerstons married into many great families, such as the Cheswick family, gaining large amounts of land, but Haggerston eventually became a minor estate, connected to the Maxwell and Constable families, and passed to the Maxwell Lord Herries of Terregles, through Winifred Maxwell, who married William Haggerston-Constable, second son of the third Baronet. Their grandson, William Constable-Maxwell, became the 10th Lord Herries of Terregles when the title was restored in 1858.

By the 1880s, the castle and estates were part of the Leyland Entailed Estates, built up by Liverpool banker Thomas Naylor. On his death in 1891, it was inherited by his nephew Christopher John Naylor (1849–1926), who gave up his family home Leighton Hall, Powys to his brother, and moved to Haggerston, changing his name to C.J. Leyland.
By 1893 he had rebuilt the main house, and like his father John Naylor started to develop his own gardens at Haggerston, overseeing the landscaping of the 23,000 acres (9,300 ha) estate.

Unfortunately, the castle is supposedly according to local legend subject to a witches curse, which has resulted in the castle being damaged by fire on three occasions. The original reason for the curse and the resultant first fire are unknown, but the subsequent fires took place in 1618 and 1911. The fire resulted in only the tower remaining, and due to World War I Leyland never lived in the house again.

The land today is owned by Haven and is now a Holiday Caravan site. Part of the castle tower and the rotunda building still remain.

A few miles from Haggerston is the tiny village of Ancroft with an 11th Century Church dedicated to St Anne.

In the graveyard surrounding the church is a headstone to 10 Poor Clare sisters who fled from Rouen during the French Revolution and who were offered the use of Haggerston castle by Sir Carnaby Haggerston. Most of the villagers at that time were catholics, as was Sir Carnaby.

The nuns lived in the castle from 1795 till 1807, at which time they moved to Scorton Hall, near Catterick in Yorkshire.

Pictures of St Anne's Church