Sam Alexander finds out how the castle ruins overlooking the Tees in Barnard Castle continue to draw thousands of visitors to the townAS a Barnard Castle resident I was curious to find out if our landmark attraction which gave the town its name continues to be popular with tourists.
The castle is managed by English Heritage as one of its 400-plus sites nationwide. I met Juliet Fellows-Smith, who is site manager at Barney as well as being responsible for Carlisle Castle, Broom Castle, Stott Park Bobbin Mill and Furness Abbey.
Much of Barnard Castle was built during the 12th and 13th centuries by the Balliol family, but what is it that makes the place so special?
“It’s a very special castle,” said Juliet. “It has a strong association with Richard III – you can see his personal symbol, the boar, marked here. It’s a castle with different areas that can be accessed and appreciated by the public. Our team here is very knowledgeable and can inform the public about the history.”
Where do visitors come from? “We get about 30,000 visitors a year – most of whom have a strong interest in British history,” she said.
“We believe that approximately only 25 per cent of our visitors are from the local area, so that shows how strongly we rely on visiting and passing trade.”
Talking of which... has the castle benefitted from the “Dominic Cummings effect”? The former government advisor’s ill-advised visit to the town during the Covid pandemic drew a national spotlight.
“We had a lot of publicity due to that media event and we were very aware of the boost in visitors we received following that period. But it’s hard to gauge whether people came specifically for the castle or just as part of their day out, but Mr Cummings’ visit certainly didn’t do us any harm.”
She added: “What did happen during Covid and since, was that people explored sites that were close to them and we saw a boost because of this.”
Despite clearly being a tourist attraction rather than being sustained by local trade, the castle is still very much a draw to visitors from far and wide and that’s good news for town traders.
They and English Heritage will hope this continues for many years to come.
