The Derwentwater Monument
The magnificently named Cadwallader Bates was the leading Northumbrian historian of his day and in 1883 he bought Langley Castle. He restored it extensively. He also erected a curious monument to the memory of the executed Radcliffes. The monument takes the form of a Celtic cross, carved in a typically Victorian mock- Gothic fashion.
The inscription reads 'To the memory of James and Charles Radcliffe, Earls of Derwentwater, Viscounts Langley, beheaded on Tower Hill, 24 February, 1716 and 8 December, 1746 for loyalty to their lawful sovereign'. At a time of Victorian patriotic fervour and in the aftermath of Tennyson's 'Idylls of the King', this inscription caused quite a stir among the loyal citizens of Tynedale.
It is one of only two monuments to the Radcliffe brothers in England (the other is the Derwentwater Oblelisk in Acton Park, near London, which commemorates James); and, as far as is known, it is the only English memorial that pays direct tribute to sacrifice for the Jacobite Cause.