 In all its long history, only five families have lived and owned the castle of the Featherstonehaughs, the original owners, who lost their estates in the English Civil War, when like many Northumbrians they supported the cause of Charles I.Parliament sold the estates to the Earl of Carlisle, but, in 1711, a Featherstonehaugh who was mayor of Newcastle bought the estate of his ancestors.His son however, when he inherited an estate in Sussex, sold it to James Wallace, who eventually by marriage became a Hope-Wallace, and the Featherstone estate remained in the possession of the family until it became a school during the Second World War.