Chillingham Castle Chillingham Castle is a medieval castle in the village of Chillingham in the northern part of Northumberland , England . It was the seat of the Grey and Bennet families from the 15th century until the 1980s . A large enclosed park on the castle grounds is home to the Chillingham Cattle , a rare bread , consisting of about 90 head of cattle . The castle is a Grade I listed building . History . The castle was originally a monastery in the late 12th century . In 1298 , King Edward I stayed at the castle on his way to Scotland to battle a Scottish army led by William Wallace . A glazed window in a frame was specially installed for the king , a rarity in such buildings at the time . The Chillingham Wild Cattle occupy land adjacent to the castle , formerly owned by the Sir John Knott Trust , now owned by the Chillingham Wild Cattle Association ( a charity not associated with the castle ) . The castle occupied a strategically important location in medieval times : it was located on the border between two feuding nations . It was used as a staging post for English armies entering Scotland , but was also repeatedly attacked and besieged by Scottish armies and raiding parties heading south . The site contained a moat , and in some locations the fortifications were 12 feet thick . The building underwent a harsh series of enhancements , and in 1344 a Licence to crenellate was issued by King Edward III to allow battlement s to be built , effectively upgrading the stronghold to a fully fortified castle , of quadrangular form . In 1617 , James I , the first king of both England and Scotland , stayed at the castle on a journey between his two kingdoms . As relations between the two countries became peaceful following the union of the crowns , the need for a military stronghold in the area declined . The castle was gradually transformed ; the moat was filled , and battlements were converted into residential wings . A banquet hall and a library were built . In the 18th and 19th century the grounds underwent landscaping , including work carried out by Sir Jeffry Wyattville . The once extensive park , now under a separate ownership from the castle , is home to the famous Chillingham Wild Cattle . During World War II , the castle was used as an army barracks . During this time , much of the decorative wood is said to have been stripped out and burned by the soldiers billeted there . After the war , the castle began to fall into disrepair . Lead had been removed from the roof , resulting in extensive weather damage to large parts of the building . In the 1980s , the castle was purchased by Sir Humphry Wakefield , 2nd Baronet , whose wife Catherine is remotely descended from the Greys of Chillingham . He set about a painstaking restoration of the castle . Sections of the castle are open to the public , and holiday apartments are available for hire . Chillingham ' s ghosts . Its current owners market the castle as being the most haunted castle in Britain . It has been investigated on television and radio ( namely , " Most Haunted " , " I ' m Famous and Frightened ! " , " Scariest Places On Earth " , " Holiday Showdown " , " Alan Robson ' s Nightowls " ) , " Ghost Hunters International , and is the subject and setting of the documentary , A Blood Red Sky ( 2013 ) " . Some of these ghosts are written about are referred to in a 1925 pamphlet by Leonora , Countess of Tankerville . Others , such as John Sage , are of more recent invention . The most famous ghost of the castle is the " blue ( or radiant ) boy " , who according to the owners used to haunt the Pink Room in the castle . Guests supposedly reported seeing blue flashes and a blue " halo " of light above their beds after a loud wail . It is claimed that the hauntings ceased after renovation work revealed a man and a young boy inside a 10 - foot - thick wall . Documents dating back to the Spanish Armada were also found within the wall . In Literature . In the novel " The Bride of Lammermoor " ( 1819 ) by Sir Walter Scott , Chillingham Castle is singled out as a last refuge for an ancient breed of Scottish cattle ( the Chillingham wild cattle ) .