Bywell Castle is a gatehouse tower built in the early 15th century for Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmorland.
There are two churches in Bywell.
St Andrew's Church, now redundant, is situated near Bywell Hall and has a fine tower of the Anglo Saxon period, considered to be the best in the county — 55 feet (17 m) high and about 15 square feet (1.4 m2). Part of a cross is another reminder of the early period, when the church then had narrow nave, chancel and apse. It was very much enlarged in the thirteenth century in a time of local prosperity. In the nineteenth century it was extensively restored, and a lot of medieval grave covers were built into the walls of the church very attractively. The thirteenth-century font was where Robert Surtees, the sporting novelist was baptized. He was born at the Riding on 26 August 1806. There are monuments to Fenwicks of Bywell and Bacons of Styford. St Andrew's Church is now surplus to requirements and is preserved as part of our heritage.[4] The vicarage was demolished in 1852, and Mr Beaumont gave land for building another at Riding Mill.
St Peter's Church is different in situation, among the trees and close to the river. It has a square medieval tower, and the church was extended in the thirteenth century. A close examination of the stonework will reveal features of the Saxon period, and there is evidence of more extensive buildings. There is a tide dial on the south wall. The north chantry or chapel was for many years used as a school. One lancet window is a memorial to the curate Henry Parr Dwarris, who was drowned in the Tyne. There is a monumental brass to Wentworth Canning Blackett Beaumont, Viscount Allendale, born at Bywell Hall in 1860. He presented the Sele and Priory grounds to the people of Hexham. Another inscription commemorates William Wailes (1881), artist in stained glass.[4] The church is also partly 8th century in date and it is possibly the building in which Bishop Egbert of Lindisfarne was consecrated in AD 802.
The high garden wall to the south-west of the old vicarage is known locally as the "spite wall". It was built to hide the vicarage from the view of the Hall. When the village of Bywell was cleared, the vicar could not be made to leave.
Landowners
Lord and Lady Allendale own much of the land surrounding Bywell. They also own most of Bywell itself, therefore a substantial amount of the village is not open to the public.[clarification needed]
